Tried and Tested
by Emania
Summary: [Complete] Robin is awoken in the middle of the night by really loud music. Who’s playing it and why? And what, my dear readers, does Robin do when he finds out? Epilogue up on new account
1. Tried and Tested

**A/N:** Sorry to the folks who got an author alert when I posted this, since I usually write in the Inuyasha Fandom and those people are probably hoping (or at the very least, mildly curious) that this might be an Inuyasha fic…but…it isn't. It's a Teen Titan fic. Sorry.

**Summary:** Robin is awoken in the middle of the night by really loud music. Who's playing it and why? And what, my dear readers, does Robin do when he finds out?

_**Tried and Tested  
**__**By Em**_

"_I like the way you're not impressed / While you put me to the test"  
__- Figured You Out, Nickelback_

Initially, it was the music that drew him. Well, perhaps not so much the music as the rhythmic thumping of bass against the walls and seeping into his very heartbeat. He looked like a classic sleuth as he perked his hearing, trying to determine the source. He didn't know who would be playing music so loud at this late hour, but God help them when he found out. Just because they were on an island separated from any neighbors didn't mean you didn't have to respect your neighbors inside Titan Tower…specifically him.

He exited the room, looking for signs of a disturbance, but the hallways seemed clear and everyone that was in their room was apparently staying in their rooms. And the further he got from the residence floor, the clearer he heard the muffled voices singing words that he was still too far away to make out.

Maybe it was Cyborg working on the car in the garage? He liked to have the music on extremely loud while he worked, but hadn't Cyborg said he was going to crash early when he left the Gamestation in BB's hands?

The music drew him away from the hallway that led to the garage anyway, so he knew it couldn't be Cyborg in the garage. And if it had been the music in the common room, he would have been able to hear it a lot closer than he was hearing it. He glanced at the digital numbers on the clock in the common room as he passed it and groaned at realizing it was almost 2 in the morning. It wasn't any of the bedrooms, or the sound would be coming from above him and…he paused to listen…he thought he could make out one or two words of the music but he didn't recognize it. But the style, that fast paced kind of guitar and drum heavy music was certainly telling of Beast Boy's kind of music. Well, Beast Boy listened to just about any kind of music depending on his mood, truth be told. Maybe he just had a nagging suspicion that it was the green changeling that was the cause of his lack of concentration…

He was starting to hear the nuances of the music now as he slowly approached. He stopped suddenly when he realized where he was. There was nothing on this side of the tower except the work out rooms.

"_This world cannot bring me down, 'cause I am already here!"_(1)

He was certainly getting close if he could make out the lyrics to the music but he'd be damned if he still couldn't place the band or the song.

He stopped just outside the doors to the training room and was utterly dumbfounded to find that the music was certainly coming from behind them. Someone was working out inside the room and had the music blasting full force. At just passed 2 in the morning, he didn't know who it could be. The main options were Cyborg and himself. Cyborg he had watched enter his room and he could dismiss himself for obvious reasons.

What if it was an intruder?

'Yeah, Robin, sure...an intruder at 2 in the morning that broke into Titan Tower without triggering alarms only to blast music and work out in our training room…' he scoffed mentally.

But something (curiosity?) stopped him from stepping through the door. Whoever was inside that room was either bothered by something enough to have woken up and gone to the training room to work it off (he had done that himself, so he understood) or was working on something that he or she didn't want anyone else to know if they chose to work out at this late hour and without having told anyone about it.

'Oh, admit it, Robbie-boy,' he chided himself. 'You just want to know who is doing what in there without them realizing you're watching.'

Not that he didn't trust his teammates, but still…

Better to make sure…

And if it was nothing important, he could just leave them working out without having been bothered.

He knew he didn't like it when people interrupted him right in the middle of an all out slug fest with himself.

Deciding, Robin changed course and heading for the observation room next door to the training room, established for the cameras and equipment that could record the sessions so they could watch themselves later…or for someone to watch them from a safe distance where they could point out flaws or weaknesses.

He turned on the camera just in time to hear the song change.

The guitar was still there and it still sounded like the same band, even if the vocals hadn't started yet, but the heavy guitar and drums made that clear.

"_Well, I took a walk around the world to ease my troubled mind,"_ (2) the male voice started as the guitar and drums began in a steady rhythm.

He sought out whoever was inside the room by panning the camera manually and found her in front of the punching bag that they could lower from the center of the room.

"_I left my body lying somewhere in the sands of time,"_ the singing continued as she approached the bag with measured but sure steps. She rolled her shoulders as she approached and flexed her fist, tightening the tape on her hands.

Robin realized he was staring open-mouthed and closed his jaw with an audible snap. 'What was Raven doing training with a punching bag?' he wondered.

"_Well I felt the world float to the dark side of the moon…" _

Raven began to bounce on the balls of her feet and Robin couldn't help but notice the clothing. The funny thing was, she normally wore much less than she was currently wearing, as she currently had on a black tank top that covered most of her top, leaving only a slight sliver of skin visible between the bottom edge of it and the elastic waist of a pair of yoga-like workout pants that covered her legs right down to her bare feet.

"_I feel there's nothing I can do…yeah…"_

'Not funny, 'ha-ha' funny, of course,' Robin realized, because for some reason, he couldn't keep his eyes away from her face as she moved fluidly on the balls of her feet around the swinging bag. Maybe it was because her hair was pulled back from her face in a sloppy ponytail on the back of her head and only several loose strands around her eyes obscured his view of her face.

Raven always was covering her face…

Not that he was one to talk…he fingered the mask that still covered his face. Not even Batman slept in his mask…but it was like a habit now…walk out of his room and put on his mask…and sometimes, when he was feeling particularly paranoid, he would even sleep in it on purpose because Gods knew they had had a few mid-night intrusions where his face would have been seen quite easily.

What was he thinking about?

As if in tune with the music, Raven seemed to find an adequate attack point and had at the bag with a vengeance, her face showing the first signs of emotions he had seen in her in a really long time as she punched the bag again and again, moving fluidly and with all the grace of a ballerina…

If a ballerina were punching the hell out of a punching bag, that was.

"_I watched the world float to the dark side of the moon…"_

Raven ducked the approaching bag and slid under it to come out on the other side ready for it when it swung back at her. And still, Robin looked on.

"_After all I knew it had to be something to do with you"_

'Why was she using the punching bag?' he wondered. She had her own training routine where she could use her powers, hadn't she?

"_I really don't mind what happens now and then."_

Why did she feel she had to develop these physical aspects of her abilities when she would never really need to use them in battle?

"_As long as you'll be my friend at the end."_

And…and…

"_If I go crazy then will you still call me Superman?"_

'She just did a roundhouse kick!' he exclaimed mentally in surprise, whatever remaining confusion and sleepiness remained utterly gone by her perfect execution of a move that had taken him considerable time to master…back when he was still learning such simple tasks, of course.

"_If I'm alive, then, well, will you be there holding my hand?"_

His eyes opened even wider when she followed the roundhouse with a perfect combination of uppercut, backward roundhouse, and left hook which would leave just about any enemy disoriented if not unconscious.

"_I'll keep you by my side with my superhuman might"_

Robin found himself smiling as she continued on her assault with a quick succession of perfectly executed moves that he could find no fault with, not with her energy or the strength used and…

"_Kryptonite."_

Was that a sneer?

Raven was actually sneering as she fought the bag. She was actually showing emotion.

This, understandably, surprised him way more than her extreme acuity with physical attacks had.

The music slowed as if in a temporary reprieve and Raven's jumped back away from the bag in a back flip and took a moment to breathe, flexing her hands and testing the wrapping of her right hand while pushing her hair back behind her ears with the other and wiping at the sweat that fell around her face.

She brought her left hand up to her mouth and using her teeth and her right hand tightened one of the knots as she walked to a corner of the training room. Robin watched her walk out of sight of the camera and found himself wishing he could follow her for a few moments before he remembered that he could move the camera.

"_You call me strong, you call me weak,"_ the singer continued relentlessly, his words driving Raven to renewed vigor as she attacked the makiwara(3), her arms moving and punching with perfect accuracy in order to make the wooden post give the way it should without hurting her hands_. "But still your secrets I will keep."_ Robin watched as with just as much speed as he himself used, she went through several kata with the makiwara and he found himself wondering even more where she had learned how to use it. He knew from experience that if you didn't use the right kind of movements with the makiwara, you could get seriously hurt, and yet…she appeared to have mastered it.

"_You took for granted all the times I never let you down…"_

The curiosity at why she was doing such things was superseded only by the curiosity of where and when she had learned such technique.

"_You stumbled in and bumped your head…"_ Robin zoomed in the camera's lens as he saw something in her face that he wanted to confirm and was even more shocked to find her lips moving in sync with the singer's voice. _"If not for me, then you'd be dead,"_ she emphasized the poignant words with a sweep of her hand or a punch.

"_I picked you up and put you back on solid ground."_

Finally giving in to the temptation, Robin walked out of the viewing room and walked into the training room, knowing that so long as she was focused on the makiwara her back was turned to the door and with the music, she wouldn't hear it open. Robin shed his shoes as he approached, kicking them out of the way. Something must have alerted her because just before Robin could reach her for the attack he had planned, she turned sharply to face him, her arms sweeping up to deflect and repel his reach.

In response, he jumped back from her nimbly, falling easy into the battle position and as the chorus of the song began around them, he grinned at her and graced her with the infamous come here move.

"_If I go crazy then will you still call me Superman?"_

Still in her ready stance, she paused before advancing and Robin worried momentarily that he shouldn't have interrupted her. That it would've been better if he would have left her in peace…

"_If I'm alive, then, well, will you be there holding my hand?"_

Any thoughts or doubts fled as Raven's sudden rush at him spurred him into action and he moved back into a classic defensive moves, letting her attack and reading her moves, learning from her attack on a person what he hadn't been able to determine of her style from her attack on inanimate objects.

"_I'll keep you by my side with my superhuman might"_

She was still good even when attacking someone who was defending back, but it was obvious she hadn't been training with a live person or she wouldn't make some of the mistakes that allowed him to move smoothly out of defensive into offensive when he was ready.

"_Kryptonite."_

And still, even though now he was on the offensive with jabs and strikes and swipes of his much more accustomed body, he couldn't get the upper hand.

"_If I go crazy then will you still call me Superman?"_

He heard the chorus repeat itself around them and couldn't help widening his grin. She took the moment to dip when he thought she was going to swipe and the wind was momentarily knocked out of him as the flat of her hands connected with his chest, throwing him back off balance in the surprise.

"_If I'm alive, then, well, will you be there holding my hand?"_

She could've continued to attack, but noticing that she had caught him by surprise, she waited until he regained his feet. He indulged in rubbing his chest for a moment and wincing at her, more amused than really hurt and she knew it because, to his incredible surprise, she grinned back as she continued to bounce on the balls of her feet.

"_I'll keep you by my side with my superhuman might"_

Robin turned his head to the side in order to crack the crick and then bowed formerly to her. A quirk of surprise flittered on her face before she snapped her feet together and her hands at her solar plexus, she returned the bow.

"_Kryptonite."_

He attacked first this time, but she didn't stay on the defensive and before the chorus had a chance to repeat itself again, they were both trading blows with neither on the defensive and both on the offensive, trying to get any effective punch or kick passed the other's considerable defense.

"_If I go crazy then will you still call me Superman?"_

They were both quick in both movement and thought, knowing how much thought to put into their moves without broadcasting their thoughts to the other too much ahead of time.

"_If I'm alive, then, well, will you be there holding my hand?"_

It would look, Robin knew, like a well choreographed ballet.

"_I'll keep you by my side with my superhuman might"_

Again, if ballerinas were allowed to kick the crap out of each other. Or at least, to try.

"_Kryptonite."_

But ultimately, Robin had trained for much longer and with a well timed swipe of his leg he threw her off balance and followed her until she was lying on the ground with his arms lightly pinning her there by the neck.

She was breathing hard, but she was still smiling.

Then again, so was he.

With an echoing chord of the guitar, the song faded into silence and they were both breathing hard, both smiling and both looking at each other, suddenly wondering what to say.

"Uncle?" Her voice, when she finally spoke, was breathy.

"Not until you tell me where you learned to fight like that," Robin insisted, just as out of breath as she was.

"Are those your terms of surrender?" she asked, still fighting to breathe even thought his arms, although touching the bareness of her neck, were not pressing down or impeding her breath.

He nodded and wiped at his brow with his free arm. "They are…" he confirmed.

"Okay," she agreed. She was grinning still and although they both knew she could use her powers to get away from him, made no move to even fight his restraint. "I learned them…" she paused. "From you," she answered.

He blinked and opened his eyes wide, unconsciously lowering himself closer to her as if he wasn't sure that the distance hadn't been too much to make her words audible even though there was no longer any other sound in the training room. "Pardon?"

She smiled wryly. "I watched you when you trained and I kinda hacked into the training tapes," she admitted.

His eyes swept the room, half expecting Beast Boy to jump out at him and claim this was all an early (or late) April Fool's Day joke. When he found no signs of anything out of the ordinary, he looked back down at her, all the while maintaining the contact of his arm on her neck. "Why would you do that?" He narrowed his eyes at her. "It _is_ really you, Raven, isn't it?"

He could feel her heartbeat start to steady under her pulse, even though it was still coming fast.

She nodded. "It is me, alright," she told him and although the smile left her lips, her face still was more open and light than he was used to seeing it. She brought one of her hands to wipe her forehead and the other to the pulse at her neck. She seemed to be counting and when she had her answer she met his eyes again. "I think you might want to get off me, now," she told him. "The adrenaline's leaving my body."

Suddenly blushing at her comment, Robin let her go as if he had been burned and scooted back away from her ashamed she had to be the one to ask. She sat up casually, apparently unaffected, and massaged her neck with one hand, moving her head around as if to test her flexibility.

"Sorry 'bout that" he mumbled.

She shook her head as she brought her legs up to her chest and looked at him, not in any particular hurry to stand. "It's alright," she told him. "It was a good workout, so I'm probably okay for another half an our at least, but just to be on the safe side," she explained, even though he still didn't know what she was talking about and the look on his face must have shown that because she smiled wryly at him. "To answer your question of why I would do that," she paused. "its part of an experiment which seems to have been working these passed few weeks."

"What kind of experiment?" He stood in order to find the towels in the cabinet where they were kept. Grabbing a pair of them as well as a pair of water bottles, he made his way back to where she was still sitting on the floor.

She took the water and the towel he offered gratefully and wiped at her face and neck with the towel before taking a swig from the water. "I was starting to realize that meditating alone wasn't giving me control of my emotions," she shrugged. "I think it might be because my powers are growing as I grow older as well as puberty kicking into my human side…" she shrugged again. "Who knows?" She sighed. "Anyway, I figured I would need another outlet if meditating along wouldn't do it, so I tried working out…but if I tried to work out using my powers, it would only fuel the unbalance." She paused to take another few gulps of the water bottle and Robin found himself watching as her throat worked for a few moments in thoughtless silence before jolting into the realization of just whose throat he was fixated on. As casually as possible, he looked away and busied himself by drinking from his own bottle. Finished, she placed the closed bottle to the back of her neck, presumably to cool herself off and continued speaking as if she hadn't just done something completely alluring. "So a few weeks ago, Star was reading a magazine about how physical exercise can relieve stress and so I thought, unbalanced emotions certainly caused and included stress," she shrugged. "So I figured I'd try that."

Robin could only stare at her. It wasn't only the look on her face or the clothing; it was the casual speech patters and easiness with which she spoke. She almost sounded as if she were indulging in run on sentences. "But why me?" he asked.

She blinked at him. "Why you?" she asked for clarification.

"Why did you pick me?" he tried to explain. "Why did you choose to copy my moves?"

She chuckled. "I would like to point out that I did not _copy_ your moves," she pointed out. "Merely emulated them in order to learn," she offered. Robin raised a brow and Raven found herself chuckling again. "In any case," she continued without waiting for him to respond to that. "I've always liked the way you fight," she answered impulsively, quickly hiding her face as soon as the words had left her mouth. "It's very hands on, much more physical than any of the rest of us."

"That's 'cause I don't have any powers," he mumbled in response.

"Hasn't stopped you from kicking ass before, has it?" she countered.

'Did Raven really just try to make me feel better?' he wondered, looking at her in surprise only to realize that she wasn't looking at him at all, but busy fiddling with her ponytail, trying to make it hold even the rebellious strands at the forehead level. "So you like the way I fight, huh?" he spoke, raising an eyebrow and allowing himself to look proud when she looked at him.

"Don't get full of yourself," she warned, smiling wryly. "Like I said…you're the only purely physical one of us…"

"You also said you liked the way I fought," he reminded her, his tone slightly teasing.

"Anyway," she emphasized, moving passed the tangent. Didn't he know what that teasing tone did to her, she wondered. Especially when she had already allowed her emotions some freedom? "I found that as long as my adrenaline is high for reasons that have nothing to do with my emotions, like working out like this, I could allow some emotions and the energy from those emotions would be sucked up by the adrenaline and my power wouldn't be affected at all." Some part of her realized she wasn't even sounding like herself. She was offering too much information, using too many words. What had ever happened to conservation of words? She sighed, realizing that if she was even just starting to realize that, the adrenaline must be wearing off.

Robin whistled low. "And you learned all your moves from watching tapes of me?" He shook his head. "No wonder it looked familiar."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "How long were you watching me?"

He blushed and it was his turn to hide his face. "The song before this last one? About not ducking and running?"

Raven shook her head and stood up gracefully. "Took you long enough to join me, then," she said over her shoulder as she walked to throw the empty water bottle away.

"Yeah, well," he found himself blushing again and wondered why he couldn't stop himself from doing it. "It took me a while to figure out that it wasn't a dream or anything," he explained, then winced as he realized how that sounded.

Raven didn't miss a beat. She turned her upper body to look at him and raised a brow. "Dream about me often?" she queried.

"You _could_ use some work on your kicks, though…" he answered instead, as if he hadn't heard her. "You lead too much with your dominant side," he stood and executed a kick like he had seen her do. "See? You need to flow into them much smoother, like…" he executed a kick in perfect form, illustrating what he meant. He allowed his mind to replay her moves so that he could point out the deficiencies and planning how to get her to fix them. "It broadcasts what your move is going to be and a smart opponent would have you."

"Hey!" she cut in, bristling. "Don't forget I nearly kicked your butt, Bird Boy!"

Robin was shocked at the tone of teasing in her voice…teasing and pride and humor…and a smidgen of offense. He found himself laughing. "Hey, nothing personal, Bird Girl," he countered, raising his hands in defense. "But you said it, you _nearly_ kicked my butt…" he shrugged. "If you wouldn't lead with your dominant side and a few other things, you would get a lot closer than nearly."

Her eyes had focused a little too long on the bead of sweat as it trailed down the side of his neck and disappeared into his shirt before she realized it and slammed her shields down to taper that runaway emotion, cursing mentally. 'She could not afford to have Passion make an appearance tonight,' she thought. Not when she was having a longer and more complex discussion with Robin than she had had in a long time. Feeling the beginning of anger for having to do it at all and realizing that just because she felt Anger even a little bit it was time to shut the emotions down for the night, she forcefully brought most of her shields back into place. The change was almost immediate. "Thanks for the tip," she told him instead, her voice once again neutral and devoid of emotion. "Anyway, I better get to bed…" she started to walk toward the doors.

"Wait, to bed?" he asked. She stopped mid stride to turn back to him with an upraised eyebrow. "Don't you wanna go again?" he asked hopefully.

She looked at him for a few moments, Humor and Flirtation sneaking passed her haphazardly placed shields onto the surface before she could stop them and something like a wicked gleam entered her eyes. "I wouldn't want to wear you out, Boy Wonder," she drawled, her control once again dragging the escaped emotions and dragging them behind the shields, turning her back on him so he wouldn't notice and walking the rest of the way to the door in an attempt to get away before her emotions did any more harm. "Hate to leave you all excited and flustered," she called over her shoulder. "But I'm done for the night." She cursed mentally at her emotions and realized that perhaps she needed to practice being able to let them out during these workouts a little more. At least, she thought, they weren't the dangerous emotions…just the annoying ones.

Robin blushed at the possible insinuation when he realized how it might sound should someone else hear it, but then chided himself. 'This is Raven we're talking about!'

"Goodnight, Robin," she said as the door opened.

'Yeah, it was Raven…' he thought and grinned. And he was only just starting to figure out just who Raven was. "Scared?" he goaded.

Raven stopped as if she had been frozen in place, just shy of the hallway. Little did he know that her momentary lack of movement was due to the internal struggle she was having to keep Courage and several other of her emotions from rising to the bait, but in the end, _someone_ won that wasn't the normal her because she turned back to look at him.

It seemed to him she was trying to read him, but before he could decide what she was looking for, she turned back and walked into the hallway. "Same time tomorrow," she said once again over her shoulder and the same kind of neutral tone was back in her voice. "Don't be late."

Raven ignored the internal cheer that went up inside her as her emotions celebrated their victory. She hadn't wanted to test them any more by sparring with Robin on any other nightly rendezvous, but in the end, she hadn't been able to say no. She had been able to lock away her emotions before she replied, she knew she had…but she still hadn't been able to say no…she had still wanted to spar with him again tomorrow night…

She shrugged as she walked to the bathroom. 'I'm sure there's some logical reason for my decision,' she thought. 'And I'll think of it…tomorrow.'

Robin, for his part, stared at the door long after it had closed. He found himself smiling as he realized that he had been wrong about her tone at the end. It _hadn't_ been the same neutral tone to her voice. There _had_ been a hint of challenge in it even when her emotionless mask was back in place.

"Oh, I won't be late…" he told her even though she couldn't hear him. "You can count on that."

**A/N: **Blame **_Jurodan_** for this. Oh, he didn't say I should write one of these or anything like that, but I had just read his wonderful fic _"Shards of Hope"_ last night which is a crossover between Inuyasha and Teen Titans and I was thinking about Teen Titans as I finished up my researching last night and I got a reply review from him in one of my Inuyasha fics and the idea for this came into my head as I heard **_"Kryptonite"_ **and since I'd been on a Teen Titan watching kick lately, Puck, my muse, wanted to run with this quickie.

So…yeah…blame Jurodan, Three Doors Down, and late night inspiration for this.

**Disclaimer: **Nah…I don't own them. I don't even know who really owns them at all. But I surely don't. I'm not even a regular in this fandom…I'm a visitor here…I usually write over in "Inuyasha" world. So, yeah. (FYI: I don't own Inuyasha, either…not that there's any Inuyasha here, but I wrote in it and…eh…you get the point.)

**Notes:**

(1) **_Duck and Run_** by Three Doors Down.

(2) **_Kryptonite_** by Three Doors Down

(3) **Makiwara:** The are two types of makiwara, the **_tachi-makiwara_** and the **_age-makiwara_**. The most common version of the makiwara is the standing makiwara _(tachi makiwara)_. However, there are also two types of standing makiwara: (a) a flat wooden post extending up from the ground with a pad (or straw wrap-around) on the top. This makiwara is struck from the front only. (b) The other type of standing makiwara is constructed of a round pole which is set into the ground as well. Straw padding is wound around the pole, and it can be hit from all sides. (See http/ monaghankarate . tripod . com / id8 . html)


	2. Part II: Bruised and Battered

**A/N: **A seriously darker Part 2 to _Tried and Tested_. Not for the young or the weak at heart. Again, sorry to the fans of Inuyasha that got notified that I updated something only to find it's another Teen Titan fic. But Puck, my muse, has run off with the Titan cast and refuses to go back to Inuyasha. Maybe it's the influence of my own darkening feelings for my approaching exams and paper, but I think my muse is seriously infatuated with the Robin/Raven pairing angst. And this is full of angst and pain and insinuations of a sexual nature. So, don't read it if you're sensitive to that stuff. Nothing graphic, but yeah…not as happy-go-lucky as the last one, I think. No matter how much I tried to make it so.

Oh, yeah, and as is my habit, people who reviewed for the _Tried and Tested_, please go to the end of this for my responses!

**Disclaimer: **Still not mine, but Puck's run away with Robin and Raven, I think…so, yeah…if DC is looking for them, they're probably with him. Mwahahaha…

**Rating:** VERY IMPORTANT! This fic, I would say because of violence and thoughts and insinuations and whatever, is probably R. So, if you're young, don't read it, please?

_**Bruised and Battered  
By Em**_

"_Savor the addiction, savor the affliction…Savor me"  
- Want, Disturbed_

"_I can't stop when it comes to you"  
_– _Vow, Garbage_

After the music he had heard her playing the night before, the last thing he expected to hear was music that could easily have come from a strip joint in the seedier side of town.

The undulating rhythm was punctuated by drums.

"_The party will end…but until it does, love's for lunch. Half the world blows and half the world sucks…do ya feel like taking 'em down?"(1)_

His eyes opened wide and once again found himself wary of opening the door. He knew who was inside the room this time, but he was early, so maybe it wasn't her? After all, the rock music of yesterday he could imagine, but this?

He shook his head. Best to be sure, he thought and went to the observation room instead of walking in straight away.

"_Fight it all you want, it's the looove machine,"_ the male voice sang sultrily, the undulating rhythm bringing to mind images of other undulating things.

He wasn't at all sure what he should make of the music or what he would find, but he panned the camera, looking for the occupant of the training room, only to find her lying on her back on the mats in the mat section of the room.

'Well,' he thought as he watched her apparently stretching and going through warm up exercises as she lifted and lowered her legs from the mat in time to the music for a few reps. It was Raven and she was just warming up. There were all sorts of thoughts going on in his mind, and not all of them were related to surprise at finding that Raven would listen to this kind of music, although that was there too. He had always thought Raven was more the dark alternative rock type, like The Cure and stuff like that, maybe the fast rock of Incubus or Nine Inch Nails. The night before, he had realized that she also went for just plain rock and now? Now she was stretching in surprisingly thought provoking movements to…he didn't even know what to call this other than strip music.

Before any of the other thoughts about what else she could do with this kind of music took over any conscious thought, he moved his hand to the switch that would turn off the camera. He knew he should stop watching her like a pervert and let her know he was there, maybe do some warm ups of his own. And he stood up, too. He really did. But when she pushed herself into standing and pulled her arms over her head, seemingly reaching for the sky and her eyes closed, he found himself unable to flip the switch tat would turn off the camera or to peel his eyes off the screen. It was like watching a really good show and you were afraid if you moved your eyes, if you even blinked, you would miss something that you hadn't expected but would love to see and would kick yourself endlessly for having missed it.

'It's the weirdest thing,' some part of him realized. It wasn't like she was dressed in a bikini or anything obviously provocative and it certainly wasn't as if she really were stripping or dancing anywhere near erotically, but it seemed that just watching her move in the white tank top and smoky gray yoga pants tugged at something inside him so he couldn't take his eyes off her. 'What is it?' he wondered, watching her with interest as her stretching brought her to bend at the waist and touch her toes.

As the music faded and changed, she straightened and lifted one leg so that her heel touched her back. The music no longer sounding like something from a strip joint, Robin relaxed, but found himself listening to the song just the same.

"_This is a woman's world…this is my world…"(2)_

'Hm,' he thought. Raven really had the strangest taste in music. Not that the song was unpleasant, it was just different. Every song he had heard her play so far was different than the last one.

In the room, Raven was on her left leg and she moved it gracefully from stretching her hamstrings while holding the heel to her back to taking hold of it and easily guiding it around and up until it was stretched straight up like a dancer would stretch it, so that her cheek was resting against her leg and her foot was pointed straight at the ceiling.

Robin's gaped. He _so_ did not know Raven could do that.

The song wasn't very long and after a few more stretches, (where Robin realized that she was just as flexible with her right leg and could maintain the same kind of balance while on her left leg) the song ended, replaced by another one and only mere curiosity kept him listening.

Suddenly, the rhythm was a latin kind of jazzy drawl full of piano, violin and soft drums in a steady movable beat, the singer's voice coming in low and rich.

"_Lines on your face," _the singer drawled. _"Don't bother me…"(3)_

As the drum and piano started in together, Raven collected her body so she was standing perfectly still, both feet together and her arms limp at her sides. Her eyes closed, he watched intensely as her head lowered and hung, as if limp.

"_Down in my chair, when you dance over me…"_

Slowly, as if with the music, she started rolling her neck, her head rolling from her chest to her right shoulder around her back to the left, pausing at random moments in its rotation only to roll again and again over the spot it had stopped, back and forth as if she were smoothing out kinks in her neck by the movement. At one moment, when it so happened her head was thrown back, and she seemed to be working out a kink in the left side of her neck, he watched as she winced as in pain. But Robin was ashamed to say that he was so caught up in watching her move that it wasn't until her hands moved up to massage her own neck that he realized what she was doing.

"_I can't help myself," _the singer declared. _"I've got to see you again…"_

He watched her as she tested her body for weaknesses, soreness, as if re-acquainting herself with her body and he found himself wondering if she was using her powers to heal them. But he could see no aura gathering and it really just looked like she was trying to smooth the kinks out of her body.

"_Laaate in the night,"_ the singer drawled. _"When I'm all alone…"_ she continued feelingly. _"And I look at the clock… And I knooow…you're not home."_

She was still and he could see the rise and fall of her chest as if she were trying to steady her breathing, preparing for something else.

"_I can almost go there, just to watch you be seen," _the singer intoned. _"I could almost go there…"_ she paused and the feeling in the song was heavy in the room. _"Just to live in a dream…"_

Suddenly Raven was moving, so slowly it looked as if she were moving through water.

"_But NO, I won't go!" _the singer declared. And at the most determined part where her voice strengthened and the violin in the back whined, Raven's body moved fluidly into the first position of what looked to him was going to be the 'catching the fish' tao. _"For any of those things."_

Of course, he thought. She knows T'ai Chi. He watched her as her arms moved fluidly, with calm and reflection, just as the tao is supposed to be performed, her hands and legs moving in concert while the music continued without the singing.

"_To not touch your skin…"_ Raven's hands moved gracefully in front of her as if she were caressing the air. _"Isn't that why I sing?"_ Raven did a succession of quick turns, her hands in perfect alignment, moving in sync with the rest of her body of positions that he was surprisingly unable to name. He certainly didn't call himself a master of T'ai Chi, but Bruce had taught him a few moves before he had grown impatient with it.

"_I can almost go there," _the singer repeated, her voice rife with longing.

It really did look as if she were dancing, and Robin found himself wondering what it would be like to dance…really dance with her. Something like the waltz he had seen on television or the tango. The fluidity of her movement made him ache to hold her in his arms, to lead her through the complicated steps and feel as she responded under his touch…

"_just to watch you be seen…"_

Of course, Robin didn't know how to dance to save his life.

"_I could almost go there…"_

Raven was in constant movement, like the breeze. He looked at her feet. One of the things that he was surprised to learn about T'ai Chi was that what gave it its fluidity was the very fact that it had set strictures as to when and how you could move. Her weight shifted easily onto her left leg, her arms and upper body compensating for the balance and, as should be done, it wasn't until her right foot was 'empty' of weight that she moved it. It was this relatively simple, but oh-so-hard to master concept that gave T'ai Chi its gracefulness: the mover never pushed off the ground to make one single movement. If she had to push her weight off her foot to move it, she shouldn't be moving it. It was one of the aspects of the discipline that had frustrated him, but it was also part of what made it special. After all, it was all about mediation, reflection, and relaxation. It was what flowed through the cycle: the realization that you have to think about the weight on your legs make you realize that before you can move you must release it and in so doing, you make it a habit until you do not have to think of it anymore, but can simply enjoy the flow of it.

She looked so graceful…so beautiful…the lose strands of her hair from the ribbon holding it back softly caressing her flesh as she moved, focused and calm…he blinked at the revelation. He really did think she was beautiful.

'No, he didn't know how to dance…but for the chance to dance with her…' he found himself thinking, trailing off as she gracefully finished the tao and her arms floated back to her center.

Raven paused and took a few breaths almost as if she were listening to the lyrics of the song and had gotten sidetracked. _"…just to live in a dream…"_ Raven's mouth moved to echo the words. This small action, this moment let him know that she had been aware of the song and hadn't played it to have something in the background. Even as she meditated and focused on the taos she was listening to the song. That realization made him listen to the lyrics even more. What about them touched Raven, he wondered?

"_But NO, I WON'T go, to share you with them!"_

The music reached its crescendo and Raven was back in motion, moving easily into another new tao.

"_But, oh, even thought I know where you've been…_"

Raven's eyes were open now, watching nothing blankly, her hands moving in perfect form, her body moving. _"I can't help myself…" _Raven's eyes closed tight as if she were trying to concentrate extra hard.

He smiled as he got an unimpeded view of her face as she turned in her movements and was now facing the camera. 'Oh, yeah,' he thought. For the chance to dance with her, to feel her graceful movements next to him, he'd learn to dance.

"_I've got to see you again,"_ Raven mouthed with the singer, her eyes still closed, her body fluidly shifting.

He didn't wait until the end of the song. When he opened the door to the room, she was in the midst of a focused turn which consisted of concentrating on her leg in the empty position. Although the song had changed, it seemed to remain the same singer.

"That's different."

Raven nearly fell on her ass in her surprise. When she managed to regain her balance without actually falling onto the ground, she turned to find Robin standing casually against the wall at the far end of the gym. At the smug look on his face, she glared. "You're early," she pointed out shaking out her legs from the stretching she had been doing.

He shrugged. "You said not to be late."

She walked to where the remote control for the sound system was laying on her towel and next to a water bottle. "That does not translate to be early," she countered. She picked up the remote. "That means, be on time," she said, pointing the remote to stop the music.

"Don't stop it," he told her. "We can work on some warm ups together and this music's great."

Raven narrowed her eyes at him. "You were watching me again, were you?"

Robin ducked his head to hide his blush and busied himself with putting his shoes somewhere out of the way. "It's not my fault if you don't notice me standing there." Getting his blush back under control, he met her eyes. It didn't escape his notice that she, unlike most people, seemed to almost see through his mask, finding and holding his stare even though she couldn't see his eyes. 'How does she do that?' he wondered. "You're amazing, though," he told her, hoping to make her feel a little uncomfortable too. He watched the reaction immediately, even though she suppressed it. "I was taught some T'ai Chi, but I never had the patience for it, you were doing some taos I hadn't even been introduced to."

Raven stopped mid drink. "How long exactly were you watching me, Boy Wonder?" she asked.

He shrugged and focused on limbering his arms a little, working the tension out of them by shaking them at his sides. "Would you teach me?"

Raven put the remote back down, and looked at him. "You just said you didn't have the patience for it," she said warningly.

"I can try, can't I?" he asked, flashing her that smile that was innocence and sin all at once.

"It's a blend of T'ai Chi and Chi Gun, two different forms of the same kind of principles," she told him. "That's why you probably didn't recognize the taos."

He nodded. "It looked good," he complimented her. "I'd be interested in learning if you're interested in teaching."

"We'll trade," she told him. "You teach me Tai Kwon Do and I'll teach you T'ai Chi Chi Gun."

He grinned at her. "Deal!" he agreed, stepping toward the center of the sparring area.

Raven grabbed a towel and drank some more water, but she was watching him as he pulled the t-shirt over his head and tossed it out of the way, it falling a few inches away from her. Raven found herself taking in more water for her suddenly dry throat as she tried not to make her inspection obvious. There was something, she realized, about the way a guy took off his shirt that was just plain…well…

'Sexy,' a voice in her head provided.

She didn't try to figure out which emotion it had been, but she had to agree. She tried to figure it out for herself as she watched him limbering his legs and arms to get to the point where she already was. Women took off shirts, too, so what was the difference?

Well, she corrected herself…beside the obvious fact that she wasn't attracted to women…

Her mind provided the recent memory of Robin casually taking off his t-shirt again and she had to fight not to blush at its vivid detail. It was something about the impatience of the act, she decided. They grabbed at the material and pulled it up over their heads as if they couldn't wait to be rid of it. As if they were impatient to be free, bare, cool, naked…

"Are you going to stand there watching me all night or do you plan to join me?"

Robin's cocky voice jarred her right out of her dangerous reverie and she fought back the urge to blush, managing quite nicely to glare at him. She had suspected that agreeing to work out with him again would be tempting the fates a little too much and at the surge of the mixture of emotion that ran through her, she wished she had listened to her instincts the night before.

"I've already stretched, thank you," she told him coolly.

He grinned lopsidedly. "Yeah," he turned his back to her so he execute a few lunges to stretch his legs. "So I noticed," he said, his tone low and slightly strained as he spoke while he was mid lunge.

She stopped herself from replying, finding interest, instead in the way the muscles of his back bunched and moved. She frowned. He hadn't had to take off his shirt. He hadn't done it the night before. The idea was suddenly forming in her mind that maybe Robin was doing more than sparring with her…maybe he was flirting with her…

He wore only the same kind of stretchy and non-clingy yoga pants she wore, only his were in dark green and sported some kind of sport team logo on the upper left hipbone. He had no way of knowing that the sight of a guy's muscled back sparked emotions better left undisturbed, did he?

An evil thought occurred to her and she bit her lip to keep from uttering it, but for some reason, it slipped out anyway: "Enjoy watching, do you Robin?"

His hand on his stretched leg slipped and his balanced wavered for a few moments before he managed to stand. He didn't turn to face her right away, however, taking a moment while she watched his breath move through his body before turning slightly to face her. His expression, much to her chagrin, was unreadable.

He cocked his head to the side as if to better read her where she stood. "Yes," he answered simply, articulating the word clearly as if to be certain that she couldn't misinterpret it for any other.

'Oh,' Raven thought, the feeling fluttering around inside her like a caged bird. 'This was dangerous…' she thought. 'Very, very dangerous…'

She felt the immediate need to work out physically or she was afraid that she hadn't built up enough adrenaline to keep anything embarrassing from happening with her warm up. She put down the water bottle and walked to the center of the mats, ignoring the feel of his look on her and the slight grin that had come over his lips at her reaction to his admission. Before she could suggest they begin, however, he was suddenly next to her.

"Do you?" he asked.

Every instinct in her body was yelling at her to deny it. To change the subject, to joke it off…well…not every instinct in her body…there were a few that wanted to take up the invitation in his voice. They wanted it very, very badly. She opened her mouth to respond but the changing of the cd into the work out music rather than warm up music startled her and she closed her lips with an audible clip.

His grin widened at the thumping pop-rock music. He was starting to realize that Raven liked pretty much anything with a beat.

"_Ohhh, I have waited here for you…"(4)_ the singer exclaimed as the music reached a peak. _"I have waited…"_ Robin raised a brow under the mask as he recognized this song.

The challenge in his eye sparked her pride however and she wanted to knock the smug look off his face. "I like a lot of things, Robin," she answered, a half smile on her lips as the song burst into vibrant life around the,.

"_You make me wanna LA LA!" _the music exploded its crescendo around them.

Without further warning, she attacked him.

Amused at her answer and that she had obviously attacked to change the topic, he smiled and he realized that he didn't want to spar with her so much as he wanted to push her to her limits…see how far he could take her.

She tried to strike from below, he dodged it, she tried to strike from above, he blocked it, she tried to get in around the side and he anticipated her.

"Eager to get it on, are you?" he asked, grasping her hands that had meant to attack him and using her own momentum to push her behind him and off balance while he backed up to give them some space.

She quickly found her center again and turned in one almost effortless move. "You going to talk or fight?" she asked.

The music changed again, this time, starting as a steady rhythm with hardly any bass to it and the male singer's voice was low and almost whispering.

"_I hear a voice say don't be so blind…"(5)_ it started as Raven approached but didn't attack, simply started to bounce on the balls of her feet, surrounding him, looking for an attack, trying to gauge his motives, what his plan was…what he was thinking.

And, to his surprise, that Raven was trying to read him only brought on a new surge, a new kind of thrill.

"_It's telling me all these things that you would probably hide…"_

Tonight, he felt like teasing her a bit. "What?" he countered, trying to read her, "No sarcasm tonight?" He stepped a little to the side and she mirrored him. "No witty remarks? No chit chat?" He was trying to anticipate where she was going to come from. It was a dangerous game, he knew that as soon as the look in her eye took up his challenge. But Robin didn't mind.

"_Am I your one and only desire?" _the singer asked.

"You wanted to see the other side to me, didn't you?" she countered in his same tone, not bothering to explain how she knew that he had. "You wanted to be here."

Which, pretty much set the tone for the rest of the round.

In seeming response, Robin took a few steady steps toward her and it had the desired effect, making her rush her advance for fear of loosing the pressing advantage. Once again, he dodged her attack and pushed her away from him, making her slightly off kilter in the process.

"_Am I the reason you breathe or am I the reason you cry?"_

He cocked his head to the side, as if waiting for her to answer the question in the song, and it was just enough to send her charging at him as the singer's voice gained strength…

"_Always, Always, Always, Always, Always, Always…I just can't live without you!"_

Robin didn't wait for her to attack, but engaged her first, running to meet her, anticipating that she would try to either dodge or duck, any of which he could use to his advantage.

"_I love you, I hate you! I can't get around you!"_

She ducked and he sailed over her but before he could turn in his fall to come down on her back, she had twirled out of the way and bounced back up to kick him mid-air, her bare foot smacked into his upper back with an audible slap, tossing him out of his programmed fall like a sack of potatoes. He curled to a stand, barely allowing his body to touch the mats, only enough to push himself off again to face her before she could take advantage of his fall, but he didn't attack. Just watched her and waited.

She might or might not have noticed that all he was doing was testing her strategies, giving her opportunities to see what she did with them, cornering her and seeing how she got out of it.

In essence, playing with her.

As the song ended around them, Raven twirled out of his grip, tossed him away from her and stood back, glaring at him. "What do you think you're doing?" she demanded.

Robin felt a wicked thrill pull through him that he had managed to get under her cool reserve so deliciously well. A sinful desire to prod her further, to see how much more he could get under her skin tempted him and he accepted. He laughed and shrugged. "Foreplay," he answered her insolently.

By the time he decided to begin attacking, using the weaknesses he had already sensed both at the moment and the night before the music had already changed, the hard rock beat of it coming upon them as quickly as his attacks were coming.

"_I am a little bit of loneliness a little bit of disregard / Handful of complaints but I can't help the fact that everyone can see these scars"_ (6)

The singer sang with all the anger and hate that had carved out a niche in his own soul and he felt an immediate affinity to the song. _"I am what I want you to want," _He felt the prick of the lyric's truth to his own life. "_what I want you to feel, but it's like no matter what I do,"_ he felt the frustration inside him, the feeling that no matter what he did, it didn't seem to get through, nothing seemed to work, _"I can't convince you, to just believe this is real"_ He couldn't get through to her.

"_So I let go, watching you, turn your back like you always do"_

And suddenly, he felt the intensity rise in Raven's fighting, she was focused, he felt the channeling of her rage, her own anger, her own frustrations and he realized that he had just learned something else about Raven.

"_Face away and pretend that I'm not,"_ Breathless after a few punches and kicks, some hits some misses, he caught one of her punches and felt the desire to hold her still, to hold onto her until she could realize…he pulled her roughly so that he caught her in a hold, pressing her tight against his back, immobilizing her by his sheer strength. If only it could be that easy to make her see? To not let her walk away. He was breathing hard and it was from more than just the exertion, it was the realization of how deep some of his phantoms actually ran. _"But I'll be here 'cause you're all that I've got"_

Raven hadn't tried to struggle out of his grip, but had been testing his own hold and as the music shifted from angry half rapping to pure rock, she ground her back into his front and the shock of feeling her so intimate against him shocked him into pulling back and giving her the room she needed.

"_I can't feel the way I did before"_

Although he hadn't released the arms he held crossed over her, she used that moment of surprised release to let her legs drop from under her, surprising him by the sudden drop into letting her slip from his grasp using the pull of the weight from below to help her. He grasped for her, but she slipped under and away before he could grab her, rolling onto a crouch.

"_Don't turn your back on me"_

The look in her eyes was feral. The pure teasing of his face was gone, replaced by an anger drawn from frustration. It seemed she always tried to run away from him, always pulled tricks to avoid him. Why?

"Tricks, Raven?" he questioned.

She shrugged. "All's fair in love and foreplay," she shot back, breathless herself as she pushed off the ground and engaged him in battle once again. What was he playing at, she wondered. All day she had watched him virtually ignore her, pay more attention to the red-headed alien, explain things to the girl, talk to her, sit with her and all the while, Raven had watched. Although her hold on her emotions had been tight enough then that she hadn't even realized it, his open flirtation with her now brought it all back. And as the adrenaline rose into her blood and her emotional barriers dropped, her jealousy and anger rose.

"_I won't be ignored"_

'Fine,' he thought. If that's how she wanted to play.

"_Time won't heal this damage anymore"_

He waited for the moment she knocked against him, surprising her by not moving. He didn't want to hurt her. He wanted to unbalance her now, to catch her. To see if he could get the better of her.

"_Don't turn your back on me"_

To be the cat to her mouse.

"_I won't be ignored"_

The hunter to her pray.

"_I am a little bit insecure a little unconfident..."_

One moment he had the upper hand, the next she had turned them over, but before she could even decide what to do, he had pushed against her and he was dominant again.

"_Cause you don't understand I do what I can but sometimes I don't make sense"_

He lost conscious control of what he was doing, or why he was doing it. It became a battle over dominance played in the flailing of limbs and jumble of turns and flips and in the tearing away and crashing back together.

"_I am what you never wanna say but I've never had a doubt"_

And it seemed ages since either one of them had thrown a punch.

"_It's like no matter what I do I can't convince you for once just to hear me out"_

She charged him and when he was ready to grab her again, she ducked and slid under his legs and out behind him. She stood in a smooth motion just as he had turned but managed to raise only halfway, arm outstretched to strike.

"_So I let go watching you turn your back like you always do"_

He countered it easily with a smooth circling motion of his arm, twirling his arm out of her grasp until suddenly her arm was in his grasp and their mutual momentum caused them to fling back onto the mats.

"_Face away and pretend that I'm not"_

He leaned forward and held her pinned, her small wrists suddenly between his hands pressed tight against the mat.

"_But I'll be here 'cause you're all that I've got"_

They stared at each other as the mad, agitated song raced to its conclusion with the singer's last scream. They took time to just remember to breathe, their chests heaving, her back almost using the opportunity to rest on the mat below her and the fight momentarily at least, gone.

He knew better than to release her, however. Not until she conceded defeat. "Check," he panted, leaning in close. "mate."

His insolence sparked the fire in her once again and her mind was whirring with possible ways of getting out from under him, but she was tired, he felt too solid above her, his grip on her wrists secure. He kept the brunt of his weight from coming down on her, holding himself up by his arms which were holding her arms onto the mat at the sides of her head and on his knees, between hers. He wasn't sprawled on top of her, no, but he was still pressed tight enough that she couldn't get leverage with her legs and he was close enough that everytime she breathed hard, her chest came into direct contact with his bare one over her. She couldn't think of a way other than conceding to get out of it. And she was not about to simply concede. Not again. Not tonight. Another hard rock song, heavy in beat and anger piped through the sound system around them. She was still trying to catch her breath and he, damn him, looked like he was waiting for her to say something and getting mighty comfortable above her.

If she wasn't stronger than him, or better at the martial arts than him, she could at least be dirtier and she came to a decision. She pulled up suddenly, not moving her hands, just her head until she was within striking distance. His expression was controlled, almost amused that she seemed to attempt to use brute force to get out from under him…that is, until she licked him. Her tongue darted out to taste the flesh of his chin to his lips before his hands relaxed in surprise.

It broke his concentration enough that she managed to get a leg up between them and push him off. She twirled until she was standing away from him and at enough distance to turn back, prepared for an attack.

He was sitting back on his haunches just where she'd left him and turned to look at her, with surprise on his face. "You licked me!" he told her.

She searched his face for anger or disgust, but found only humor and surprise. "Never said we had to play fair," she replied, watching him for movement.

He leaned down as if he were going to lie down face first on the mat and exhaled. He looked up at her. "Okay…so we both have some things to learn," he conceded.

She looked at him and nodded slowly, relaxing a bit. She brought an arm out to wipe at her forehead, and realized suddenly that she hadn't seen him wipe at his lips. If someone had just licked her, she would've been wiping at it as soon as she could do it and maintain her cool exterior.

Something about that…_touched_ her. That was when she realized the taste that still lingered on her tongue. She had tasted Robin.

He exhaled, as if he were trying to regain control. "You ready for your lessons now, then?" he asked.

Her eyes widened. "What? Now?" she questioned. There were no clocks in the training room except the ones the computers had to track time, but she was sure it was late.

"Tired?" he challenged.

She scoffed. "I can take it if you can." She noticed he was still on the mat and figured the least she could do after cheating so blatantly was to offer the guy a hand up. She walked to where he still sat and extended her left hand.

He took her hand firmly in his right and grinned at her. "Yeah, just imagine," he settled his weight, preparing, presumably, to stand. "If you learned this much just from watching me on the tapes," Robin spoke teasingly. "Then having me here in the flesh should make you a master," he finished, raising an eyebrow in challenge.

She tried to take her hand back at his comment, but he used her backward pull to lift himself up in a bounce and wrapped her arm around her front again, pulling her close to him, grabbing her other hand when she raised it for a strike, and finally holding them still between her chest and his arms.

"Now that's low," she deadpanned, suddenly finding herself in the very familiar position of feeling his bare sweaty chest against her, his heat making all sorts of emotions rustle.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he whispered in her ear. "Did I say we were through?" he asked way too innocently to be sincere. He felt her slight shift and felt the humor rise. "Go ahead, try that trick you tried last time, little Raven," he goaded her. "Now that you won't surprise me, I just might enjoy it."

Raven felt her breath catch in her throat. Using her body to distract him had nothing to do with him as a man or her attraction to him. It was just a self-defense mechanism. It was about surprise, doing the unexpected in battle and frankly, it was about working with what you had in order to win. And if you were a woman, you knew that men were easily distracted. It was that black and white. She would have used the same tactics against Mad Mod, for cryin' out loud, but now that he had said that, she felt the realization of just what she had done and who she had done it to. She flushed, ashamed at how she had blatantly ground into her team leader, her friend, ashamed at all the little ways their bodies had come into contact…ashamed and flushed with an altogether different kind of excitement. 'What did he think of her after acting like that?' she wondered, but then a thought occurred to her. She knew exactly what he was thinking. He told her as much. He was thinking that if she did it again, he would enjoy it. She frowned. Robin didn't say things like this. Or at least, he wasn't supposed to say things like that. As if not being as good a boy as he had let everyone believe had been a dirtier trick than either of the ones she had pulled, her voice, when she spoke, was accussing: "You're supposed to be the good boy." She turned her face to look at him out of the corner of her eye only to find their faces incredibly close.

"Is that so?" he asked, the wicked gleam in his eye. He started to close the distance between them. She refused to turn away. But she didn't exactly know what to do. "Are you sure about that?" his arms tightened just that minimal inch to bring her that much closer to him. A little more, Raven thought, and he'd be lifting her off the ground.

He was teasing her again. She felt the blush and, yes, the desire rise inside her…the incredible desire to close the distance between them and show him just what she thought of his bad boy persona, but the image of his laughing face as he joked with Starfire invaded any pleasurable thoughts she might have had and she nearly growled. Why did he do this to her? He always seemed to pick on her, as if she were the one that could take it all the time, as if she were stronger than anyone else just because she could control her emotions. Was she a safe bet? The challenge had spured her to always be right alongside his comments or wit, and even with the mild teasing and flirtation, but lately...lately it had been going to new decibles and she was getting tired of being suspected of being able to take it by him. Starfire was the prissy one and so she got special treatment. While with her...her he fought with and ignored, and now, teased when he was feeling like some foreplay, but Starfire was weepy and soft and out of bounds. And something inside her snapped. "You've always wanted to get a piece of me, haven't you?" she questioned, her tone caustic and showing all of the emotion she hadn't been able to show before.

He froze, his eyebrows rising over the top of his mask and although he was obviously taken aback, he didn't loosen his grip and she cursed mentally. "What?" he asked, his tone curt.

"When you were Red-X_(8)_, when you were Slade's Apprentice_(9)_…" each mention of each moment made Robin barely flinch and his grip tighten. "Each time, you _always_ came after me, didn't you?" She was ruthless, she had hoped he would let her go or stop it somehow, but his stare stayed focused on her and if anything, he seemed more intent on hearing her out. "You always attacked me…always left your _precious_ Starfire be and came after me…" having let her emotions free, she couldn't stop the bitterness creeping into her voice and wondered why she didn't care.

At first, Robin's anger flared. How could she even think such a thing? That he would really have come after _any_ of them was ridiculous, but that he would really aim to hurt her was…

She had stopped struggling and as if someone had turned it off and only now just turned it on, he heard the music still blasting around them.

"_I tried to kill the pain, but only brought more…"(10)_

He remembered seeing only her, seeing disgust in her face as she faced him in Slade's armor. And he remembered hating himself and hating her. The others, they might not have understood having to make sacrifices, but he always felt that she would…that she somehow understood him. Even Starfire's surprise or pain, it had been expected, but _her_ disgust…her hatred of him…he hadn't been able to take…he had hated her back…wanted to hurt her even as he wanted to call out an explanation.

"_I am dying and I am pouring crimson regret and betrayal…"_

For the first time, Robin came face to face with the truth…he _had_ come after her. He had hated her for hating him…for turning that look to him, for doubting him and ultimately, he had hated the feeling that he had nothing left to lose…that he had really been gone.

"_I'm dying! Praying! Bleeding! And screaming!"_

The moments ticked on and he could only stare at her, too many words making their way through his mind, face to face with her bitterness that she carried even now…that bitterness he had given her a taste of that he carried within himself.

"_My God, my Tourniquet, return to me salvation."_

They had never spoken of it, never verbalized it, but he had always felt, somewhere inside him, that if anyone understood him, she did. That if anyone made his existence bearable, it was she. The possibility that she might feel the same way was gone, in a blink of her pain filled eyes.

"_Am I too lost to be saved? Am I too lost?" _

Could he live without it? Could he live without her?

"Let me go," her words, as soft as they were, finally broke into his conscious and he did.

"I didn't want to lose you," he finally replied. 'But maybe it's too late.'

She turned to him as the song faded above them. She seemed to be inundated with questions, but the only one that made it passed her lips was: "What?"

"You hated me then…" he confessed. "I saw it in your eyes, and I hated it…I hated myself…and I felt so far from you in that moment that I felt more alone and despondent than I had even when I realized what Slade had done…"he turned and found her eyes on him. "and I hated you for making me feel that way…" he answered steadily. "_That_ is why I came after you," he told her. "That is why you…" unable to meet her eyes and even try to determine what he saw there, he lowered his head. "I kind of expected the others to not want to fight me but I was prepared that eventually, they'd hate me, because I expected that they couldn't understand, but it never occurred to me that you would hate me, too," he explained, taking the realizations out of the dark part of his soul and looking at them in the light of day for the first time as he spoke them. "Eve Star…I expected her look of pain and although her offer of sacrifice surprised me, nothing _hurt_ me more than your hate…" He couldn't look at her, couldn't even chance to see what was in her eyes now. "That is why you and not Starfire," he finished on a whisper.

She was still breathing a little hard, even through her shock. There were too many things to say, too many questions to ask. Why would he think she could understand him more than the others? She had often thought that if anyone could understand the darkness in her soul it would be him, but she had never mentioned it, never shown any particular preference to him as he had never shown any particular preference to her. So many questions, and she was too tired and too in shock to speak of them. She wanted to go back to what it had been before…she regretted bringing it up in the first place. "Fine," she answered, trying to go for unemotional, but having way too much adrenaline in her system to make it believable. She walked to her water bottle, more for a desire to do something than to actually drink.

"I think we should call it quits for tonight, then," she said as casually as she could. "We'll work on actual training next time…" she looked at him hopeful that he would take her cue and drop the subject. She turned off the music and with a snap, there was suddenly a deafening silence. "I think we should start with the training of the T'ai Chi Chi Gun so we can use it as a kind of warm-up and then you can teach me the Tai Kwon Do…"

Had she forgiven him, he wondered, or had she simply decided to change the subject?

"Next time?" he asked, his tone an attempt at normal.

She exhaled. He had taken her cue. "Yeah…I'm still up for it if you are." She didn't know what it all meant, but she knew now was not the time to talk about it and she was just as ashamed at her own anger and feeling of betrayal that had come out as she had been angry at him. She hadn't hated him, she knew it in her heart that she hadn't. But something had been in her eyes on that roof staring at Robin in Slade's armor…_something…_pain, maybe? She didn't know. And she was too tired to find out.

He couldn't help but smile a little, the dread that had occurred to him at realizing that he might have broken their tenuous relationship ebbing away when he realized that if she just wanted to change the subject, she would have just walked away. She was asking him to take it back the way it was, sticking around, talking to him. And he wanted that very much. (Had she said 'your _precious _Starfire'? he wondered vaguely.) He sat down on the bench, wincing a little as his sweaty and no doubt heated bare back touched the cool wall. He let his head rest there as well. "Daylight next time, k?" he spoke into the silence.

"Huh?" she asked, confused. She had been expecting him to be thinking of ways to get out of it, having moved on from the conversation but not wanting to tempt the fates again.

"Daylight…for the next…" he motioned around him. "Sparring session, training…whatever…" He shrugged and looked at her. She sat down next to him, careful still not to touch. "I don't think I can take any more nose dives into my breakfast cereal due to lack of sleep," he admitted. She stared hard at him for a few moments, the confusion ebbing away as she pictured the scene at the breakfast table that morning after both of them had had only a couple of hours of sleep.

Suddenly, as if someone had released a valve, her laughter bubbled forth like a spring, wracking her body with its force, finding not only the memory of the situation funny, but also the fact that he would choose to remind her of something amusing to relieve the tension. These emotions were a strange thing, she thought. How could she go from being embarassed one moment, to attracted and turned on the next only to switch into anger enough to want to hurt him just like that? And then, as if that wasn't enough, laughter, joy...enjoyment, like a damn had broken, all through her body. Oh, she still knew that their words had been serious, and they probably would have to speak about it at some time, but at least not now...at least she'd have some time to think.

At her obvious release, he found himself first smiling, then laughing as he too fully remembered the morning's incident. "Sure, laugh it up, chuckles," he teased, laughing still. "I'm glad to know that almost drowning in my cornflakes this morning could bring you so much joy." He tried to look stern, but he was feeling the release of pressure too and couldn't help but feel the same sort of joy. "Death by Cornflakes...what a way to go."

She lifted her arms and tried to stop herself from laughing. "I swear that if I would've known Beast Boy was about to knock your arm out from under your sleeping head, I would have stopped him," she insisted.

His eyes opened wide and she realized immediately that he hadn't realized why his sleeping head had falling off his supporting arm after all. "Beast Boy?" he asked.

Raven, laughing even harder now, tried to stifle her chuckles by putting a hand to her mouth. "You…" she stopped to hold her stomach again. "…didn't…" more laughter. "…know?"

"I'm gonna kill him!" Robin assured. The sound of her insistent laughter, which might have annoyed him considering it was at his expense, somehow soothed his flash of anger at the green changeling for the morning's embarrassing fiasco.

'Yeah, they'd have to talk about it soon,' he thought as he watched her. But he'd have plenty of time to speak the words, to make her realize how much she actually meant to him. He'd have time to make her realize it wasn't hate for her and preference for Starfire that had prompted him to attack her, but a hatred of the fear she made him feel at the thought of loosing her. It wasn't perfect, it had still been wrong and they needed to talk about that too. But there would be time…

When she realized that her leader was staring at her in nothing like what she had seen in his eyes until then, she sobered and looked innocent eyes at him. "What?"

He smiled. "You have a beautiful laugh," he told her sincerely.

He really wasn't the good boy that everyone thought, she realized. A good boy wouldn't have said what he just said. She looked down, unable to hold his eyes. And yet, he continued to look at her as if he were expecting something from her. A mere 'thank you' seemed trite. So she went for a half-truth. "You're just not used to hearing it."

Out of the corner of her eye, she watched him nod.

"That's true," he admitted. "But doesn't make it any less beautiful…" he trailed off momentarily. He didn't know what had made him say that…she seemed uncomfortable, but she had taken his teasing earlier alright. 'Oh, well,' he thought. He could take it slow. He chuckled as a thought occurred to him. "Have you ever noticed Cyborg's laugh?" he asked.

Raven's eyes lit up in instant mirth as she realized what he meant. "He snorts!" she said.

He nodded. "Only when you really get him going, but aw, man…it's like a small warthog."

Raven chuckled again. They were silent for a while and just when he thought that enough time had passed so that she would feel the adrenaline leaving and would be getting up to go, she fingered the remote control that was somehow still in her hands. "I never hated you," she announced without preamble.

Robin blinked, momentarily frozen. She wanted to talk about it again? "I…" he paused and ran a hand through his hair, mussing it up even more. "I think some part of me knew that…"

She nodded briskly, as if saying, 'good', then exhaled and leaned back against the wall, closing her eyes and resting her head.

Feeling the moment ease and stretch into companionable silence, Robin started to feel the strain on his body. There was a pain on his shoulder that he knew he'd be feeling tomorrow, but he didn't exactly remember when she had hit him there as opposed to anywhere else. If the heavy feeling of his body was anything to go by, then she was already pretty good in hand to hand battle. In an attempt to work out the kink, he stretched his arms up over his head and pulled, trying to figure out exactly where he'd have to direct the hot water to during his shower. The tug on his forearms and back seemed to be the worse of it, and he stretched to try to work it out.

He opened his eyes and paused as he felt her eyes on him. Was he able to feel anyone's stare as acutely? He had noticed it before, how her looking at him always called his eyes to her, even without realizing it sometimes, but he had written it off as a side effect of her powers. But now? She wasn't using her powers. And yet, he still felt it. As clear as day. He managed to avoid giving in to the temptation of looking at her. Still sitting, he pulled his body forward and reached for the ground, smiling. He knew that she was looking at him. As surely as he had known it when he stretched before the fight. A slow kind of male pride swelled within him at the thought. 'So she does enjoy watching,' he thought, grinning, knowing she couldn't see his face. 'One of these days,' he vowed mentally. 'I'm going to make you admit that.'

He let the tension go in his body as he felt the blood rush to his head, his arms hanging down and pulling on his shoulders, by their weight. "Raven?" he spoke, head still lowered.

"Hmm?" she asked, and he realized she sounded as if she were asleep…or very relaxed. It wouldn't be long now before the adrenaline left her and she'd be back to having to fight her emotions.

"Will any kind of physical activity do?" he asked.

He felt her shift next to him, the minimalist of motions. "Pardon?"

He exhaled and raised himself up to face her. "To keep you in control," he explained. "Of your powers, I mean."

"Oh…" she blinked, as if she had been thinking something or caught off guard. "So long as I don't have to use my powers during it, it should…" she trailed off as a thought occurred to her and she narrowed her eyes at him. "Why?" she asked, slightly suspicious.

He grinned. He knew the mischievous gleam was back in his eye. "I was just thinking that there are a lot of other physical things we could do together that doesn't involve having to beat each other to a pulp to get your adrenaline up."

Her cheeks flushed almost immediately and she glared at him to hide it. "What are you getting at?" she pressed, her tone warning.

He laughed and raised a brow. "Swimming, sports, skiing, roller blading…" he enumerated them on his fingers. "Horseback riding, dancing…" he shrugged, his look pure innocence. "You know, if your theory's correct, you probably just have to get your adrenaline up, so even riding a motorcycle really really fast might do the trick." He saw the look on her face and the left side of his lips raised into a challenging smile. "Why?" He looked positively angelic. "What did you think I meant?"

He knew very well what she thought he was getting at.

And she knew that he was playing innocent just to goad her even further. Sighing, she stood up and turned to look at him. She shook her head as if she were slightly disappointed but not surprised. He did not fail to notice the hint of a smile on her face. "You're so predictable, Robin."

Her tone could have meant anything. Predictable how, he wondered? Predictable in issuing an insinuation that he didn't follow through with? Or predictable at not having meant any insinuation at all?

His head cocked the way it did when he sensed a challenge and Raven immediately remembered that 'Eh…Robin is not exactly a good little boy…' Not the way she had always thought he was. At least, not with her…not anymore. "Am I?" he asked.

In fact, he was dangerous. 'Very…very…_very_ dangerous,' she thought.

"It's just that it's pretty easy to tell what you're thinking most times," she answered.

His expression didn't change. "Is it?" he questioned.

'I'm just digging this hole deeper and deeper, aren't I?' she thought. She had two choices: she could laugh it off, say that maybe she was wrong or two, she could _not_. The problem was, obviously, that she really could read him…even without having to use her empathic sensibilities. And she knew…she _knew_ it was safer to just say she had been wrong and walk away from it. She did.

But that didn't mean she was going to do it.

Ultimately, she blamed it on lack of sleep.

"Most of the times," she answered.

His lips curled into a smile and something about the soft, languid way he did it made her feel both like the mouse that had just fallen into the trap and like the cat that had discovered the cream all at the same time.

"Then what am I thinking about now?" he challenged, his voice no longer purely humorous.

"I don't think you really want me to answer that, Robin," she spoke, her voice smooth in its sureness.

He leaned forward and stood up in one smooth motion. "Oh, but I do," he insisted.

"Are we going to spar again?" she asked, her voice a mix between sarcastic and humorous, but, she was proud to note, not a bit scared. Even though fear was there, inside her, feeling trapped and cornered and knowing that if they took this very much further, all escape routes would be blocked off and there would be no place to go but forward, nothing left to do but jump. But she couldn't stop…why was that? No one else made her lose this much of her own conscious will…her mind knew she should walk away, but her body just wasn't listening. Watching as he approached her, steadily closing the distance between them, she had to force herself not to take a step back.

He must have seen something in her eyes because he smiled. "That's just it," he told her. "We never stopped." He stopped mere inches from her. "We never do."

When it felt like she could hardly stand the desire to reach out and close the last bit of distance between them, she pulled back, giving in, giving ground, taking a step backward and breathing in the air that was free of the imposing strength of his aura as if she had been drowning.

Maybe she had been. And the thing was, he probably hadn't even realized that he had been reaching for her, even if not with his hands. It had been strong enough to almost make her reach out. She had almost touched him. She had almost answered him. Almost.

"Time we stop, then," she said, unsure how clear her voice actually managed to sound through the buzzing in her ears. It was strangely like when she flew, that sensation that there was nothing between her and the ground but air and her own power, knowing that it was such a flippant thing, really and should it ever just cease to exist, so would she.

She felt Robin pull back away from her and even though she was free to move even more, to take a few more step back away from him until she could turn, she barely repressed a shiver. And from there, it was practically clear sailing to walk to the door. Thanks to the adrenaline still coursing through her system, although she felt the distinctive flare of lust burn through her blood, nothing blew up and the demon in her didn't awake.

"Why do you always run away from me?"

Robin's voice, almost devoid of emotion, stopped her in her tracks and she cursed under her breath. She had been so close. She could leave, walk away, ignore the question, but she already knew she wouldn't, that she really couldn't, even before she had finished considering the thought.

"Why do you wear a mask?" she countered. She put a hand on the threshold of the door because she suddenly wasn't certain that she was real and needed to touch something concrete to assure herself. She didn't expect him to answer, so she hadn't turned back to look at him. But she couldn't cross the door. She couldn't walk away…maybe if she stood here a little longer, then maybe, but…

Was it always going to be like this between them when they were alone? Was she always going to feel this draw to him? Was she always going to feel like she couldn't resist him, like an addict needing more?

Maybe these sessions with him weren't such a good idea.

"To protect myself," he finally spoke.

She nodded, lifting her head and turning it just slightly so she could see just the edges of his shape out of her peripheral vision. "Same principle."

She started to walk out again when she was stopped by his hand on her arm. She nearly jumped. She hadn't heard him approach and she was still so aware of his aura behind her she hadn't distinguished its having gotten any closer. But suddenly, as if his touch flared the recognition of all her other senses, she could smell the scent of him in her air. She thought he would say something, but when she didn't turn around, all he did was tug at her arm. She gave in, thinking he would turn her around and knowing that if he did, she wouldn't be able to resist him. She surrendered her arm like one waiting for judgment, but his hold on her, as opposed to when they sparred, was gentle and almost like a caress. He carefully lowered her arm, his hand sliding from forearm to wrist to hand, the tender touch drawing goosebumps from her traitorous flesh until involuntarily, her hand opened to welcome his fingers. She didn't know what to expect, but refused to look at him, and rather than close his hand over hers, or pull her back to face him, she felt the cool press of a soft material against her sensitized palm.

She looked down at her hand and just barely withheld a gasp at finding his crumpled mask staring up at her. She was in such shock she didn't even consider turning around to look at him. She was staring at the mask as if it were an alien thing she had never set eyes on before and couldn't distinguish its purpose. She felt his approach as he leaned in close to her ear.

"When you're ready to stay, I'm ready to show you," he spoke quietly. She closed her eyes and swallowed hard, her hand fisting around the mask. "I trust you."

She was tempted…so tempted to just turn around. It wasn't every day he offered this, hell…he _never _offered this, not to anyone, and he was offering it to her. But she wasn't ready. She had too many questions, she was too confused. She could still feel the sensation of dropping in her heart she had experienced when he told her he had hated her. She could still feel part of that doubt and pain. And she wasn't ready to give up her protection yet. She crushed down the disappointment and the fear. '_Godamnit, I'm not ready!'_ she cursed and she knew it wasn't her calm self that thought so. Crushing that thought down, too, she nodded curtly and stepped, hoping that his hands on her bare shoulders wouldn't tug her back or hold her any longer.

He didn't hold her back, but his hands simply opened and didn't pull away, allowing for his skin to graze hers as her walking slipped it out of contact.

At the door she stopped herself again and cursed. She wouldn't turn around. She wouldn't. "You don't have to be afraid of losing me." She didn't turn, but her voice was tight with the effort.

She felt his surprise and realized that the adrenaline was wearing off. And still, she didn't turn around. _'Bully for you, Raven,'_ she enthused sarcastically.

Robin watched her stop and wanted to lie. Wanted to tell her that he knew that and wanted to say the perfect thing to make her stay, make her turn around and look at him, to trust him. He didn't know what those words were, but he knew the truth. He wanted to lie, he couldn't. "But I am."

She sighed. And before she moved again, her hand reached up and with a quick tug, she had pulled off the ribbon that had been holding her hair away from her face. The long strip of black satin fell away from her hair as the purple cascade fell over her shoulders. She held it in her hand for a moment, before lifting her palm. The scrap of ribbon was encased in an orb of dark energy and it floated back to him, stopping right in front of him. The black energy dissipated and the ribbon floated down onto his waiting palm. He looked at the back of her head in surprise.

He saw her hand tightened on the mask she still held. She had never turned around to face him. "A token for a token," she spoke, her voice once again monotonous, before walking off down the hallway toward the elevators and presumably, her bedroom.

Robin smiled and brought the ribbon up to his nose. It smelled like her, he realized.

And in the midst of planning what tomorrow would bring, a thought occurred to him, 'Maybe they had been the right words, after all?'

**Notes:**

(1) "Do Ya Feel" by Right Said Fred. And yes, if I were a stripper (which I'm not…) I would probably use this song in a routine. The lyrics are really fun, though! I can't help and move my tooshie even if I'm not a stripper…just cooking in the kitchen with this song blaring. I thought it would be an adequate backdrop for his first view of her.

(2) "Woman" by Neneh Cherry. Very cool song. I first heard it on the soundtrack to…eh…"The Long Kiss Goodnight", that's it. I think.

(3) "I've Got To See You Again" by Norah Jones. This is one of my absolute favorite songs…currently, anyway. A very seductive sounding song. I first heard it on an episode of "Crossing Jordan" but it's on the same album as "Come Away With Me". I forget what the title of that Album is and I'm too lazy to look it up.

(4) "La La" by Ashlee Simpson. I think it's such a fun, fast song. Certainly not what most people that I've read out there would consider to be a song Raven would pick, but I wanted to give her a bit of depth. To show that she liked pretty much any kind of music. Hence, Robin's thought comment about it.

(5) "Always" by Saliva. Now, begins the darker music. Heh…maybe _this_ was why I ended up taking it in such a dark direction :shrug:

(6) "Faint" by Linkin Park. I love these guys and this song is such a kickass song, I would love it to be my personal soundtrack if I ever had to kick anyone's ass.

(8) Episode, "Masks". Robin makes up the persona of Red-X to get closer to Slade and try and gain his trust. In doing so, he has to fight the Titans.

(9) Episode, "Apprentice II". Robin is now Slade's apprentice and he has to or Slade will kill them all. Slade orders him to fight them or they die and NOT to even speak one word to them or they die. When he attacks, Starfire gets in the way, but he dodges her and flies right at Raven, fighting her hand to hand.

(10) "Tourniquet" by Evanescence. A seldom mentioned song, but I think it's fabulous. It just so happened that I was staring at my screen because I didn't know what was going to happen. I thought Puck had led me into a corner and I wondered, "how the hell do I get them out of this?" and several options occurred to me and then this song played and I thought…"Eureka! That's it!" and there you go. So I had to add at least some lyrics.

**About the songs**: Well, as you can probably tell if you know the songs that I used, I didn't want to go through all the lyrics to every song I used, but basically what I did was set up a list of music that I thought would work for a sparring session and let it play on random. The songs that came out that came through my conscious as I was writing the particular scene are the ones that I used, the lyrics I used for the ones where I just used snippets are the pieces of lyrics that came through to me in that moment, so yeah…that's why not all the songs are completely quoted and so many of them are quoted even in pieces.

**About the Quotes: **Those who know me from the other fandom might've noticed that I'm a quotes freak. I love them. And both of these quotes that I used for this chapter seemed perfect for the chapter, so instead of one, I used two. :shrug: I couldn't decide, so I thought…well, why should I?

**General Notes: **So like I said at the top of this thing, I feel slightly uneasy by the direction this whole chapter, piece, whatever, went. I don't normally write such dark fics…I really don't. I mean, I call myself the self-proclaimed Queen of Angst, but this came out…well, more than just angsty, it came out like borderline masochistic, I think. I had wanted to give them another fluffy-silly-happy-go-lucky kinda moment, but this came out instead. Eh…go figure.

And yes…this _is_ in response to the people who reviewed and asked for another chapter. I probably would've left it alone, but people reviewed and pretty much said that I had left it off in a place where it could continue, and Puck (my muse) flew with the idea and gave me this tidbit.

He (my muse) has become enamored of these characters and specifically this pairing, which is weird, because I usually like cannon pairings in most of the shows I watch (Inuyasha/Kagome, for example.) In other words, I'm usually not cool enough to go against the grain. (Even though I have experimented with writing Miroku/Kagome, but that's only for the challenge of it.) But yeah, I just think BB and Raven pairing is slightly wrong, at least it seems that my muse doesn't like it, and what can I do but write what my muse inspires? I haven't convinced myself to read it, either. I think there's such depth to Raven, she's certainly my favorite character, and I enjoy exploring how her character clashes and calls to Robin's character. Heh…there's my excuses. And I realize also that while I write this, they're not thinking and acting like 16 year olds…in my head, they're kinda older, I guess, certainly more mature. I'm just not 16, not by a long shot, so it's a little difficult for me to keep the innocence of a 16 year old and keep it real. I guess…enough excuses, though. Just enjoy. (And again, sorry to the Inuyasha fans…I haven't abandoned Inuyasha and certainly not FAWK, but right now, this is what Puck wants to write…:le sigh: )

**Thanks:** First of all, wow. I never thought I'd get 5 reviews for this thing, let alone anything passed 10, so 13! Wow! Just cause no one knows me in this fandom and I thought that the Inuyasha peeps who have me on author alert would ignore it cause it said "TT" fic. So, yeah…thanks. Especially to the people who said they'd like to see more of my stuff. This one's for you!

Oh, and if I end up feeling like writing more TT fics, I'll probably make up a new profile for it, so the Inuyasha people who have me on watch won't get spammed by notification of those fics. So, be on the lookout for that if you're a TT fan. I hate to self-promote, but maybe if you want to put me on watch and you want to watch me for any new TT fics I might do (or if I ever decide to write more for this one, which I don't promise) then maybe you can review and let me know that you would like me to put you on a kind of email mailing list so I can notify you if I end up setting up the new account. Or…you can just check back on this account periodically. If I do set up a new account, it'll have to be under a different name for obvious reasons…probably EmaniaHilel or Arianrhod or something like that, but I'll mention it on the profile page for this account.

**Crazy Girl Person:** Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed the story and the surprise!

**Kumori Sakusha:** So glad! Thanks for letting me know!

**Extiction:** It's partly due to reviews like yours that this next part got done at all, so I hope you enjoy it! And I'm always glad to hear from someone who likes my work in another fandom! So double thanks:grin:

**Dragon Huntress:** Well…I've made it longer. Also thanks to reviewers like you who said you wanted to see more! If it weren't for you guys filling my muse's head with the idea that more from me would be appreciated, I don't think he would've inspired me to write any more! Thanks!

**Gothic Kid 13:** I aim to please. Thanks for reviewing!

**Annie Collins:** Thanks so much! I sent you an email begging for clarification as to what other things you saw that needed tightening up in it cause I always appreciate another constructively critical eye looking over my work. I hope you like this bit, too, (especially since I think I suck writing action and this one had a whole bunch of it…) and again, if you find any errors (which I'm sure this is rife with) please let me know through email or through review, which ones specifically (if you're so inclined). :wink:

**D:** Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! (and one more for good measure) THANK YOU:grin:

**Morgan Adams:** Thanks! I'm glad you stuck with it even though it was kinda long, and I hope you found me again and stuck with this one, too, even though it is also kinda long.

**Dozer:** :blush: Wow! Thanks for the wonderful praise! And especially since you pointed out some of the parts that I was most worried about. I hope you find yourself equally liking this installment.

**Jurodan:** So this is what I was doing instead of finishing up my swine paper…can I help it if my muse insists on peppering me with ideas for a continuation after getting so much praise on his first attempt at a TT fic? Anyway, hope this one doesn't have any too obvious flaws…although I'm sure it will…

**Redmage2:** LOL. Thanks! Like I said in my AN, I can't help but see them two together. I can't picture her with BB. I can picture her with RedX or maybe with Speedy, but not BB. And Robin with Starfire? I don't know, I think she's cute, and very nice, but I think if I were Robin I'd probably want to strangle her within the hour. So yeah…it looks like I'm a Rob/Rae Shipper. I'm glad you thought the scenario was believable. And I hope you think the same for this one! Thanks again for the review!

**Dwntempo:** :blush: I don't know if I'd 'grace' you guys with any more interaction, but I'll try! It seems that my muse has taken a liking to the challenge presented with getting those two birds together. Thanks so much for the review!

**Skorpion:** Thanks! I'm glad you think it's a believable scenario! I was most worried that the theory wouldn't fly. :grin: Hope you still think they're not too OOC in this installment.

So…should I keep going? Will I keep going:shrug: Hell if I know…I suppose that's up to y'all. Hit that button down there and let me know.


	3. Part III: Win Win

**Edit: April 29, 2005:** I am never going to be completely happy with my writing. Anytime I re-read it, I'm always going to find stuff to change. This time, however, I only changed a few words here and there and attempted to make a few scenes a little tighter. Nothing you would probably notice if I didn't tell you. I looked to make sure, but if you're seeing some words smushed together, it's FFN, not me.

**A/N:** Blame this one on all the people who reviewed again saying they liked Part II and wanted to see more. Yeah…and on my muse that just had to work this out to its conclusion, so here's where all the build-up's been coming…eheh…hope you like!

**Disclaimer:** I'll be lucky if I can pay back my student loans when I graduate in 3 weeks. Course I don't own 'em…I don't actually own _anything_ except Lola (my laptop) and she's kinda rickety in her old age and acts up on random moments. :grabs Lola possessively and turns wild, crazy eyes: Don't take Lola!

**Special A/N:** Okay, so I'm posting this on both my new Teen Titan dedicated account as well as on the old one. The new account will also have posted up (as soon as I finish editing it) (eh...make that at the very least in three days cause I just opened the new account and they don't let you upload anything for three days) a short, like one page epilogue to this story. Then that's it. That's all she wrote. The fat lady has sung. I'm putting _this_ baby to bed, and…eh…any other euphemisms I can't think of right now. When I get back to thinking about it, I'll probably delete it from the old account and leave it up only on the new one. So, yeah…if you want to put me on your author alert to see what new TT goodies I might come up with, if you want to read the epilogue to this little puppy and if you just…eh…wanna? Here's the new one (as always, remove spaces and paranthesis)

_**www . fanfiction . net / () emaniahilel**_

Very creative, no?

_**Win-Win  
By Em**_

"_Don't forget that I meant to win"  
- Hammering My Head, Garbage_

It had become a habit—a dirty little secret that he wasn't altogether sure she was unaware of herself. But he knew. And he knew that she had been right the night before: he wasn't the good little boy everyone always thought he was. If he were good he would not be thinking of what he was thinking…he would announce his presence and stop watching her like a stalker. But he was weak.

He knew she would be in there. He could already hear the music. He had stood at the door to the training room, hand positioned to open it, but hadn't been able to make himself go through with it.

'What would it hurt?' he thought. There was no one else in the Tower, the others having gone to a car show downtown. He had already admitted to her that he liked to watch. And shouldn't she come to expect that he would be there? He had been the other two times and he hadn't hidden that from himself either.

She had seemed even more quiet and withdrawn than usual all morning and every time he had been about to approach her, someone else came into the room and her look had seemed to warn him against speaking.

He was weak, he decided. Weak and a little bit addicted. There was something about watching her when she was unguarded that he couldn't deny wanting. And so he sat in the darkened control room, only the light from the monitors in front of him lighting his face. He watched her carefully, trying to look at her as a trainer and not as a man. It wasn't easy to avoid getting lost in watching how her body moved, but he had at least some modicum of self control and managed to focus on her technique, looking for flaws and her skill level. He had felt those blows come at him, he had seen her quick reaction time first hand, but watching her from a distance, he could easily pinpoint the technique.

He had not, however, realized that she had also been learning with tapes of his bo-staff training. He watched her as she went through several of the movements, the music through the system definitely rock, but slow, steady, just like her movements still were. It wasn't as graceful as her movements during T'ai Chi Chi Gun, but the potential was there.

He noticed the music for the first time as she twirled with the bo in a tight circle, but only because she seemed to almost be dancing, until she came to a dead stop and spread it out along side her, calling out a soft, "hya," as she did.

"_How does it feel to treat me like you do?"(1) _This was more like the type of music he had originally thought she would go for. Dark, hard, and almost tortured. The guitar and drums erupted around her and she was back in movement.

"_When you've laid your hands upon me and told me who you are?"_

He grinned when he realized that she hadn't been lying when she said she had used his style just as a basis…this was her own style. She was doing the same moves, but the forms that he tended to use were changed.

"_I thought I was mistaken…I thought I heard your words…"_

Where he would have come out of a turn and swung down, she came out of the turn and swung to the side. Where in his own basic training, he would have twirled it and brought it before him, reading to deflect, she twirled it in her fingers to then swing it down.

The singer's monotone broke into a scream with the chorus, demanding, _"How does it feel?" _the bo-staff sliced the air,_ "How should I feel?"_ she turned on a crouch, _"Tell me how does it feel to treat me like you do?"_ it sliced upward in an arc.

She twirled it in several spins before extending it in what would be a strong blow to her left, then right, then left again, all the while walking. He had seen this move, too. It was meant to tune his coordination.

"_I still find it so hard… to say what I need to say…"_

Her eyes were focused as the bo staff flew around her as if she were fighting an enemy that she didn't need her eyes to see.

"…_but I'm quite sure that you'll tell me…just how I should feel today._

She stood with her arms close together, the bo in one hand pressed against her side and he knew the move she was preparing for too. As the music upped in preparation to repeat the chorus, she ran, long, even steps and pushed off the ground. His eyes recognized the misstep seconds before she took it, and although she sailed into the air and her form was good for maximum height, she hadn't caught enough push and she came down at the ground too fast to complete the kick-swipe with the bo. She fell onto the ground, the practice bo clattering next to her into the silence of the fading song and a muttered, breathless oath escaped her lips.

He watched her, wondering what she would do with the pain of the fall. She had come down on her foot hard and although she had managed to keep from twisting it as she fell, it had to hurt. The next song began and she just absently rubbed at her bare ankle. 'Another mistake,' he thought critically. She should've wrapped her ankles before she began.

She could notice the smallest details of his moves, but she hadn't noticed that he always had his ankles wrapped when he first practiced to avoid injury? He frowned at her lack of thought to her own safety, but he found the worry being pushed almost completely aside as, moments later, she twirled to a crouch, wincing only a little. She stepped on her foot without limping and he realized both that it hadn't been too bad (not as bad as it could've been) and also that he was unaccountably proud of how she handled it. 'As if you've had something to do with it, Rob,' he thought to himself. He had no real reason to be proud except that she had used him as a model. He hadn't done any training of her…yet.

The next song was already by the chorus when she started working the bo in twists and turns between her hands, limbering up her finger's dexterity and familiarity with the staff weapon and he could see the determination and focus on her face.

Figuring he'd better get in there before she tried another dangerous move without adequate protection for her feet, he made his way to the main room, already numbering in his mind the faults they'd have to work through. When he opened the door, he was surprised to find her priming for her next attempt at the run-spin-kick-swipe move. He had not anticipated that she would try for that one again so soon. He didn't interrupt, however, and instead watched silently as she once again pushed off two seconds too soon and, unable to gain enough altitude, came down too fast to complete the revolution of the move.

This time, she took it with less patience as she came face to face with the ground again, beating her fist against it. "Damnit!" she exclaimed, turning into the crouch and reaching out for the bo which had rolled away from where it had fallen only to stop an inch or two from his feet. She searched the ground and found his feet, her eyes traveling up to find the bo in his hands.

He twirled it easily in his hands and watched her, his head cocked to the side as she stood up and faced him, surprise at finding him there in a moment of defeat.

"Looking for this?" he asked as the song faded into a softer sort of rock song.

Her chest was heaving with the effort and surprise but she didn't look pleased to see him. "I guess I don't need to ask how long you've been watching me this time, do I?" she countered, stretching her back in order to avoid touching it in an attempt to soothe the place where she fell. She had suspected that he might start to watch her at any moment, but why'd he have to see her fall? _'Damnit all to hell!' _she thought vehemently, not bothering to wonder why she was so easily angered today. It had taken her constant falls and slip ups to master all that she had already. She knew what it was like to miss something and try it again and again until she got it, so why was anger so close to the surface now? _'Because he wasn't watching me before_,' she answered herself.

"You don't have to teach this to yourself anymore, you know?" he said, walking into the room and shedding his shoes in a casual way. The bo-staff was still twirling and moving as he kept it, almost absently, in constant motion. It was what she had noticed in the tapes…why she had waited until she had got the other things before attempting to learn the staff. It seemed to be an extension of his arm, an extension of his movement.

"I don't like to fail so miserably in front of an audience, thank you very much," she replied snippily.

"You're just going to get hurt if you do it the wrong way," he pointed out casually.

"As opposed to any of the other things I taught myself?" she challenged.

He was almost in front of her now, and with a flick of his wrist, the tip of the bo had extended before him and stopped just inches from where her feet had been. Luckily, her reflexes had kicked in and she had stepped back when she saw it coming at her. She was angry that he had so suddenly attacked her, until she realized that the bo had stopped a good three inches from where she had been standing…he wouldn't have hit her, even if she hadn't moved.

He looked down at her bare feet. "Your ankles need to be wrapped to practice jump moves," he pointed out calmly. His voice had already taken on that of the teacher. "Or you'll hurt yourself when you land wrong."

Something about it only upped her anger. "Thanks for the tip," she replied caustically.

He raised an eyebrow, but started walking again, the bo still moving as if he thought better with it in movement. "Most of your technique is good, but you rush into the jumps, you force the push off and then doubt yourself immediately once you're in the air," he critiqued.

She clenched her hands. Why was she so angry? She couldn't figure it out. It couldn't just be that he had been watching when she failed, could it? No, she had been angry even before that. Why?

He must have seen something in her eyes, because the bo stopped moving and he started for the benches. "Come on, we'll wrap your feet and we can start with the bo if you like."

She walked to the benches and he took her arm and sat her down, pulling the tape from its place nearby and crouching before her. When she realized that he was already unrolling the tape and started to grab her left foot, she stood up. "I can wrap my own feet, thank you," she told him.

He looked up at her and casually hooked his hand behind her foot, pulling it out from under her easily so that she fell unceremoniously back into the bench. "Obviously," he told her. "It's why they're so well wrapped already, huh?" he asked sarcastically motioning her bare feet.

She took offense to his tone and started to stand up again, but he must have sensed the tension of her body as she prepared to, because in one smooth motion he had leaned forward to cage her between the wall at her back, him at her front and his arms on either side of her where he braced himself a mere inches from touching her. His voice, when it came, was light and casual even if the meaning in it was as serious as sin: "You stand up again before I've wrapped your feet properly, Raven, and you'll force me to get physical."

Then there was the quirk of his lips, which seemed to be begging for her to try him and she realized that the anger had been simmering inside her all day, and at her nearly overwhelming desire to wipe that grin off his lips, that it had been directed at him. This, she realized, was becoming a very bad habit. They teased and fought and tempted in these sessions, but hardly spoke out of them. Why should she care? Why should her mood be dependent on his attentions to her, she wondered?

He took her lack of movement for acquiescence and pulled away from her to crouch back down close to her legs. She looked down at the head of dark hair bent once again over unwrapping the tape and wondered, briefly (almost academically) on what it might feel like to touch.

As if to illustrate an answer to her question, his hands wrapped around her bare left foot and pulled it onto his lap.

She was aware of his cool fingers as if she had become suddenly hyper-sensitive to touch. Her hands clutched at the edge of the bench under her to avoid pulling her leg out of his hold while he tenderly wrapped the tape around and around, tight enough to hold but not too tight.

The music changed again and the next goth song suddenly felt overwhelming. In annoyance, she reached for the nearby remote control and pressed the off button, the singer's voice cutting off abruptly.

He looked at her at the sudden silence, then quickly went back to work, tying off the first foot and reaching for the other.

She resolved herself to allow it, but was starting to seriously think this wasn't such a hot idea. She had begun the day thinking to apologize to him for the words she had spoken so cruelly the night before, but her pride wouldn't allow her to approach him and it seemed every time it looked like they would have a moment to themselves, one of the others would interrupt. And when she had looked at him, questioning whether or not he would still speak to her, he had looked at her and turned to them as if she didn't matter. Her hands clenched around the remote.

Apparently, the motion brought his attention back to her. "Why the music?" he asked suddenly.

His words would've been intrusive, if it wasn't because his voice was so soft. She found herself blinking stupidly at him, being caught out of her thoughts but unable to recall what he might have asked.

"The music?" he pressed, glancing up at her and then back down to his diligent task. "You've got all kinds of music…" finished, he exhaled and slowly let go of her foot, sitting back on his haunches to look up at her. "You usually like quiet and peace and…" he grinned a little. "It was the music that woke me up that night, you know."

He hadn't finished one complete thought in that whole attempt, she realized, but she knew what he was asking. And for some reason, she found herself trying to explain. "Music is emotion," she answered. "It brings out things sometimes you can't or don't know how to say."

She had answered without really thinking about it, and it wasn't until she had finished that she wished she hadn't.

He looked pleased. "So, what you're saying is that music is a way for you to experience emotion, then?"

She had started to answer, but realized that she didn't want to talk about music. She stood up and this time, he didn't stop her. "Robin…" she started, walking toward the center.

"Okay," he said into the silence. She seemed like she wanted to say something, but didn't know how. So he would get her adrenaline up some more, hope that freed her up enough to say what she had to. He picked up the bo-staff he had set aside to wrap her ankles and threw it at her. She caught it automatically and looked at him, confused. "Let's see what you got," he told her, grabbing another practice bo from where they were kept.

They fell easily into sync as he took her through several steps which she could follow in relative ease. And although he told her to keep her eyes focused forward when he was walking around her to better look at her form, his eyes remained on her, even when they moved side by side as she attempted to emulate the movement of the staff. And when she would stumble over a move or seem confused or as if she were not following, without her having to say a word, he would pick up on it and stop to help work her through it.

She was surprised to realize that he was a patient teacher. And it wasn't until, sweating from their efforts, he had paused in his inspection of her form to absently remove his t-shirt that she noticed it. He walked to the benches to drop it off before starting back to her without realizing that she was staring.

"Come on, Rae, you're not tired yet, are you?" he asked, coming back toward her.

She still didn't move. She was staring at the piece of black satin ribbon tied around his neck and glittering in the overhead lights against his slightly tan skin like a necklace.

Was that her…? She couldn't finish the thought. It _looked_ like her ribbon that she had given him the night before. But would he have been wearing it all day? And what was this feeling inside her at the thought that he might have?

He must've noticed her eyes on it, for he fingered it around his neck. "What?" he asked almost defensively. "Once you give it away, you can't take it back," he gave her a challenging look, "Are you going to tell me how I can use your token?" he asked teasingly.

Which brought her eyes back to his. She hadn't had any place to keep his mask except under her pillow, but when she had awoken in the morning, it had been to find it clutched in her hand.

She shook her head and put down the bo. She couldn't do this anymore. She couldn't play this game…not anymore. It was getting too close. It was becoming too tied to her emotions. It was ceasing to be a game. "We need to talk," she said without preamble.

He wasn't sure he wanted to talk. He knew what she meant and he had a pretty good idea of what she wanted to talk about. And what was more, he didn't want to talk about it. Still, he nodded and turned back to the benches, grabbing the water bottle and wiping at his face and neck with a towel. He didn't look at her. When he finally spoke, his voice was almost as unemotional as hers tended to be, "Are you going to run from me, again?"

Why was he wearing her ribbon? She had given it to him as part of the game, so he wouldn't feel she had something of his and he didn't… "I make no promises." …hadn't she?

What about seeing her ribbon brought his on, he wondered? "I guess that'll have to do." He sat down and drank half of the bottle down. Hadn't she kept his mask?

"About what I said last night…" she started, then faltered, as if uncertain of where to go beyond that.

He wanted to tell her not to worry about it, but he couldn't bring himself to. "Which part?"

She sighed. She hadn't thought he would make it easy on her. But damnit…not this hard.

She was enough in control over her emotions that she didn't let it show. "About you wanting a piece of me…"

'But I do…' the thought came unbidden into his mind, unbidden but clear. 'Just not the way you meant it last night.' And last night he might have told her that too, but tonight was different…he could feel it.

"Do you really want to do this now?" he asked softly instead.

She lowered her head. "I think we have to."

He didn't want to hear this. He knew her enough to know she would try to discount everything that had happened the last few days. And if she said those words, the friendly, neutral, pacifying words, what would he do? When faced with two options, neither of which you like, go for the one that'll give you the advantage. He wouldn't let her smooth it all over under a blanket of pretty apologies in the hopes it would all go away or they would go back to hiding. He wouldn't.

"In that case," he turned to look at her, as if steeling himself. "I did go after you…" his voice was unapologetic, and he could tell it caught her completely by surprise. "I _was_ angry at you, I did want to hurt you…" he exhaled. "But not last night," he admitted. "Last night…" he thought about it and looked away. "Last night I just wanted you to notice me…I felt like you were slipping away and I wanted to let you know that I wouldn't let you go."

She blinked, completely and utterly shocked. She found herself sitting down…hard. She had been trying to apologize to him. She opened her mouth, but he didn't let her speak…he wasn't even looking at her.

He shook his head. "I don't know what came over…" he stopped, mid-sentence. "No, that's not true. I do know," he still didn't meet her eyes. "I wanted to see you smile, to see you angry, to see you out of breath and out of control…" He was playing with the cap of the water bottle still in his hands. "And I wanted to know that it was me that did it to you…that made you feel that."

Raven was starting to feel her heartbeat pick up, the thumping, _doki-doki_ echoing in her ears. He had never been so blunt, so honest with her. She should tell him she understood and that he didn't have to say anything more, then promptly apologize…then beat a hasty retreat, but the only thing that came out of her mouth was a whispered, "Why?"

"Because I'm selfish," he answered without reserve. "Because you gave me a glimpse of what it could mean to be the recipient of that side of you that first night I watched you working out and I wanted more."

'This wasn't part of the game,' she thought. The game, with all its innuendo and sometimes bruises, was just a game and that was something she could handle. But this…this was taking the game too far, playing with cards he should never play. And she was starting to get angry, even though she refused to question the reason why. She saw in her mind's eye, a thousand glances, a thousand of his smiles, a million of his casual touches and all directed at Starfire. He rarely looked at her and when he did, it was with nothing more than the eye of a leader, someone responsible for her welfare and for her activities as a member of a team that was his responsibility. She hated feeling jealous, she hated feeling like she was less than someone else in anyone's eyes but in his…

She clenched her fist. If he had just stuck to the game…if he had just played fair…she wouldn't have cared if he had ignored her, if he had just kept it light…and not…not tried to push so many of her buttons. If only he wouldn't have tried so hard to _win_.

"You are selfish," she answered with more emotion than she would've thought possible just barely contained in her steady voice. His head shot up to look at her and she grew even angrier. What did he expect? That she'd let him play her on his own terms? The teasing, the sarcasm, the laughter…all those she could give him, that didn't matter, it didn't touch more emotions than were already touched by her having friends, but why did he have to make her feel like she mattered? Why did he have to make her feel like she was special…? She shook her head firmly. "You're selfish for wanting to make me feel, just because you can," 'And then taking it away' she added silently. Those other emotions she could handle, but not self-conscious, not jealousy. The vehemence to her outburst shocked him and she could tell, but she couldn't seem to stop. "You're selfish and cruel, Robin," she didn't recognize her own voice anymore. Hadn't she just wanted to apologize? Where was this coming from? "to make me face things that I don't want to face just to see if you could."

"That's not it!" he insisted, alarmed that she would see it in such a way. He reached out for her and his arms found her shoulders. "I wanted to see those emotions take over your being, not because I could…"

She shook her head and shrugged out of his hold. "Now you're lying," she pointed out and her voice was cold, the anger still there but overlapped with something that felt and sounded like disappointment, like he had just proven himself to be something even below selfish or cruel.

"No!" he tried to impart truth with his voice, but he couldn't. Did she really think that? Did she really think he was lying? That he could lie to her? He hadn't lied to her.

"You did," she insisted. "You don't care about me…I was a challenge for you," she was looking at him and the anger was there again. As much as it hurt her to believe it, as much as it brought back images of Malchior and countless other betrayals, it was the only possible explanation. "I was something you needed to figure out, something you needed to look at from the inside, you wanted to see if you could do what no one else could and make me _crack_." And it made _so _much sense…it was so logical, that the logic was twisting her insides.

Her words bit into him like a slap to the face, ringing elements of truth in their wake. It had thrilled him that he could make her feel when she had managed to have control with others, it had thrilled him that he could get under that cool veneer…'_But not like that…_' he thought. Not the way she was insinuating, not as cold and calculating. "I…" he hesitated, looking at her. "I wanted to make you _feel_." She scoffed angrily and he was certain of it now. "_I_ wanted to be the one to make you feel, yes, so there was an element of my ego in there, I admit it," his words were hasty, rushed…he was loosing her. And suddenly, she looked at him. "But only because I didn't want _anyone_ else to be the one that you felt with…" he knew those weren't the right words, he knew he was muddling it up, not making sense, but he couldn't help it. He didn't know what to say to make her see.

"Same difference," she said, her voice so cold…so hurt…"_You_ wanted to be the one to crack me," she said it like she had experienced people trying to do that before and like she had expected more from him…truth was, she had. "You didn't care what it would do to me…don't make it about me…it was all about you."

Her words were like knives driven to the heart of him, pulling him apart like he had seen her powers do, laying him bare. And it really wasn't until that moment that he realized…"I didn't…" he admitted. "I was stupid, and selfish…you're right…" he looked up at her, "but not a liar," he insisted. "I don't think I even realized it, but I didn't want anyone else to be the one to make you laugh, but _not_ because of any sense of competition, Raven," he spoke, begging her to understand but knowing he wouldn't blame her if she didn't.

"Then why?" she demanded. "What other reason is there, Robin?" she spat his name like a curse.

One second he thought he couldn't admit it and the next, she had pushed him over the edge and he felt if he didn't speak it, it would cook him from inside. "I was jealous!" he exclaimed, angry. "I couldn't bear to think of you laughing with anyone else, sitting with anyone else, showing yourself to anyone if it wasn't me!"

Something was breaking apart inside her and it was only in that moment that she realized how much of herself he had already chipped away. "That _is_ competition!" she exclaimed. "Your being jealous is still about you never loosing to a challenge," But she wouldn't let him know…couldn't…she had to protect herself. "And it's about you somehow, for some reason, deciding that it would be a challenge to make me feel!"

"You're making it sound like I don't care if I hurt you!" He couldn't believe this was happening. He couldn't believe she would think he would purposefully hurt her, that he would try to make her suffer! "Like I don't care if I bring you pain!"

"You don't!" she threw back. "You can't! Admit it, Robin, it's the only reason you bothered with me at all, it's the only reason you don't ignore me!"

"Ignore _you_!" their voices were echoing in the silent room, even the softer training music she had put while he taught her having long since stopped and faded. Anyone within a three mile radius would be able to hear them now, but neither of them noticed. Robin had stood, but he hadn't noticed that either.

The look in his eyes must've gotten to her because suddenly she wondered why she was fighting it? She couldn't get as angry as she was, she couldn't let him see…_never_ let them see…

This was pointless, fighting with him, arguing…to what end? She shook her head minutely. "Forget it, forget me. Just forget I exist…" she turned around to walk away, "go back to ignoring me."

His hand on her arm stopped her. "That's just it!" he said, clearly frustrated and angry and not at all willing to let it go. "I can't ignore you!" he exclaimed, just shy of yelling. "I can't forget you exist! That's why I challenged you! That's why I teased you! That's why I fight you!" he suddenly realized all he had said and the look in her eye…he was almost afraid to read it. "Because it was the _only_ way I could get you to _notice_ me!"

She flinched at the intensity of his words and pulled back. He moved back a little, and a small part of him thought of letting it go, of letting her go, but he couldn't seem to make his hand open. He couldn't stop the words swirling in his head…he couldn't stop. "When do I ignore you?" he challenged. "When I notice as you walk into a room? When I count every little thing that makes you smile even just a little or the things that make you frown? When I am aware of every blow you take in combat? When I count the hours you spend in my company as opposed to the ones you spend in your room?" He realized he was just barely stopping himself from shaking. He could feel it inside him, that shaking that came over him as he watched everything he had known and loved be taken from him and buried in a plot of land. It was the same frustration of knowing that everything was being taken away, and it was your fault, and you could do nothing about it.

"I try…lord knows, I try…" his voice had lowered and his eyes had closed, trying to block out the feeling, trying to stop himself from seeing her walking away, noticing the way she barely even looked at him as she strolled through, barely recognizing his presence. "You're not the only one that can be hurt by feelings, Raven," he said it almost through grit teeth, but he instantly regretted it.

He watched the walls closing down around her, and in his mind's eye he saw her kneeling in defeat on her bedroom floor as she realized the man she trusted had used her and betrayed her.

It had nearly killed him that time. It had taken everything he had not to run to her, not to take her up in his arms and beat away her sadness. He almost laughed. Even then, he wanted to protect her, even then he wanted her to look at him and see something she didn't see in the others.

He had been afraid. And he hadn't known what to say, how to approach her. He hadn't known how to even be her friend. And he hadn't even been able to look at her, so he had run away, he had run after the threat and hidden inside his anger and his need to protect his city…

What a joke. Even then…it seemed like so long ago, and yet…just the other day…

When had he started to feel this way? He didn't know. Only that suddenly, he realized all the little moments he had felt, all the moments they had shared…and each and every time she had treated him like a stranger.

_He had been such a bastard. _

He only remembered every time she had brushed off his attempts at conversation, left the room once he'd entered, closed the door in his face and slammed down her shields and he remembered only feeling slighted and reminding himself that he didn't need to care.

He should have known it then, but it had been so much easier to think the feelings would pass…to think he was looking into things…to forget the way his heart had tried to warn him so many times and ultimately, too easy to believe she didn't notice anyway.

In his nightmares, he still saw her there, how he had left her, in the floor of her room, alone. He suddenly found her eyes again and it was like looking at her then. It was the same look, the same kind of sadness…but no surprise…almost a look like she thought she deserved it and was only sad and tired at having to face it all again.

And he still didn't know what to say…

Beast Boy had stayed, then. Beast Boy hadn't had to pretend to ignore her, to pretend he wasn't, in some way, glad that she wasn't going to leave them. And he had hated the changeling, too, for knowing what to do. And he had hated himself, for not being able to speak to her about it. For not having the courage to listen to her speak about the man that had broken her heart.

_He wasn't worthy of her…_

He had been so much more aware of her silences and he had found himself wondering if she thought of the dragon. Malchior had teased her about crying and Robin had wanted to tear him apart then too, but not only for the hurt he was bringing her, but because he had seen her cry.

Her silences…it seemed it had been ages since either of them had spoken now and he could feel her breathing before him, her rapid pulse under his hand.

"Robin," her voice was cold, but there was a hint of doubt there…a touch of something he hated hearing.

He found his voice again, he had to tell her everything. "I hated Malchior for taking you away," he admitted on a whisper, not sure he had spoken loud enough for her to hear. He felt her tense under him. "I hated him for hurting you, but I hated myself more for being able to do nothing…for not being able to approach you even then…" he felt her exhale slowly, apparently trying to get control of herself and he wanted to shake her, to keep her control from her, to make her feel as out of control as he was feeling. He wasn't making any sense. He didn't want her to go. "I try to not look at you when you're sitting there reading your book and you're just…" his hand tightened around her arm. "…so close…"

Her voice, when it came, was low. "You…" she faltered, as if she were unsure of her own thoughts. She swallowed, gathering courage. "You manage."

He looked at her and his look was demanding. "Do you _want_ the others to know?" he asked, his voice a low, almost growl and strangely intimate. "Do you want me to show them how much I wish I could make you laugh? How much I wish I could touch you…" he looked down at where her arm was almost limp in his grasp. He relaxed his hold and his thumb gently caressed the red spot where her circulation had left the mark of his fingers. "Like now?" His eyes traveled up her arm to her neck and finally found her eyes. "I don't know what to do or say to you, Raven, I don't know what you want!" his hand flexed on her arm which she had yet to move. "Would you have me to show them how much I need you?"

Her eyes broke contact first, lowering to his chest, trying not to focus on his breathing. "Stop it," she whispered.

He let her go as if he had been burned. '_What was he doing?_' he wondered. Of course she would ask he let her go. Of course, he was acting like a mad man. Did he really think just because she had shared some parts of herself it was enough to tell her all this? Did he really think just because she asked she wanted this?

She stumbled back a little from the sudden shift in balance and when she managed to get a hold of herself again, she stepped back from him. "I don't know what game you're playing, Robin."

She still thought he was playing? Still thought he wasn't sincere? He didn't know how to break through to her! He remembered the song from the night before, _'No matter what I do, I can't convince you to just believe this is real…'(2)_

"I'll admit it, okay?" she said, and her voice seemed tired and weary. "You got to me," she met his eyes. "You got under my skin…you made me feel…now…stop it…let me go back to my apathy…you won…let me pretend..." she stopped herself. "…_please_."

The please broke him and the anger faded leaving only a cold emptiness. She just wanted to pretend it was all a game. And he should have let her, it probably would've been easier that way. But he couldn't…he had said too much. Now, he knew that living with her rejection, with her pity even was nothing compared to living with her thinking that he didn't care. "I'm not playing a game, Raven," he insisted, but he didn't know how to make her believe it. He didn't know why she wouldn't.

Her anger was like a bonfire, igniting and burning at him through her eyes. "You expect me to believe all this!"

He looked up at her, exasperated. "How can I make you believe it?" he demanded. "Just tell me! I'll do it."

"There's nothing you can do!" she exclaimed. "Everything you've already done has shown me what lies those are…" she looked angry and hurt, the eyes she turned to him were much more raw than the ones she had for the days and weeks after Malchior. "You can't ignore me for years and then expect me to believe that…" she shook her head. "But what I don't understand, Robin is why you don't stop?" her voice cracked just the smallest amount.

"God damnit, Raven!" he exclaimed, throwing the towel still around him in a fit against the wall and knocking down a few water bottles as it went. "I didn't ignore you! I was _always_ aware of you! I know all of your habits, I can set my watch by the times you make tea and meditate, I know every book you've ever read in the common room…I've read them myself just to see what interested you about them…I know every line of your face, every scar you've ever gotten, every bruise you've ever sported. I can differentiate between your uniforms, I've learned to read your moods by your sighs, the extent of your raised eyebrow, the twitches…I can hear your unspoken words in your stillness, I can read your silences like you read your books…this is not a game and I am _not_ playing…" he looked at her…really looked at her. "Are we starting to understand yet?" And part of that question was for him as well as for her. Because he _was_ starting to understand. Finally _really_ starting to understand.

She was, to say the least, shaken. Shaken, stunned, yes, but something else was growing, blossoming, barely held back by fear and doubt. "Why…?"

"Why…_what_?" his hands ached to touch her again. His mind searched for ways to make her see, but he was loosing patience, loosing the battle with his need to hold her.

Ever so slowly, she started to register what he was saying. He must've been watching her for years. _'But…'_ She brought her hands up to her head, dislodging the already tenuous hold her clip had on her hair and releasing it to float down over her face. She didn't care. The clip clattered to the floor, unheeded. _'…that doesn't make sense…'_ "Why now?"

He shook his head. "I don't know…" he admitted. "From the first moment I saw you…you looked so sad, so lost and…" he shook his head. "You looked outside the way I always felt inside, but couldn't seem to show it. And when we came here, I always felt that even if we didn't always agree, you would understand me…" he looked around himself momentarily, as if lost in the past and trying to reconcile it with the present. "Even before the mind meld, I always felt…connected to you…"

She shook her head and turned away. She had to gain control of this…gain control of herself. Her heart was beating so hard in her ears it was making it hard to think, she wasn't even sure if she was breathing anymore or walking, sitting or standing. Was this a dream? A nightmare? Was she back in Nevermore? "That was then…" she whispered.

"You were so unapproachable," he said, hoping his words wouldn't hurt her. "But it wasn't your fault, I just…" he watched her back and hoped she would turn, willed her to turn, and so he continued speaking, even though he no longer remembered what he had started out trying to say. He just let himself go. "I never knew _how_ to approach you, even then and I was always afraid showing interest in you would only scare you away…" The clip she had been wearing caught his eye where the teeth like grips seemed to grin at him. "I didn't know how to talk to you." He was suddenly reaching down and grabbing it, looking at it. It was just a clip. "And I couldn't ever seem to think of a way, even though I always, always wondered…" But even though it was plastic, it smelled like her shampoo.

She felt the name on the tip of her tongue, but didn't know how to speak it. She felt several of her emotions screaming in agony as she desperately pushed them away in order to control them, in order not to release her tears. "Starfire…" she spoke into the silence, the name coming out stilted and as if he had forgotten how to pronounce it. She met his eyes, daring him to counter that, but he looked sad instead of caught, guilty instead anything else she might have thought. "…would disagree."

"Starfire…" he repeated softly. "Was a stupid mistake," he spoke quietly.

He was playing with something in his hands absently and her attention was caught by it for a moment. She realized it was her clip and anger broke through. "Was she a game, too?" she asked, the anger starting to rise. "Do you know nothing but games?" Loyalty to her friend and other things was warring within her.

He looked up at her and exhaled. For a moment, he looked defeated. "She wasn't you," he answered and there was such pain in his voice that she was almost tempted to believe him. "And at first…I thought she was enough…I thought…" he looked back at the clip, his hands investigating it, his eyes roaming over it as if he had never seen another like it. "…it would go away…that I could smother it away, make it something else, but I couldn't dictate my feelings for you…I couldn't change what I wanted…"

"You expect me to…"

"I don't expect anything!" he interrupted her suddenly, the raw emotion in it making her start. "Not anymore," he said softer. "But I need to have you at least hear me…" he turned away from her then. "When I thought you hated me…something inside me snapped and I thought I could never be close to you…" he tried to make his voice sound as steady as possible, but he wasn't sure how well he managed. "I thought you were disgusted with me, even if you might have forgiven me, I thought I was no better than someone you just tolerated…and I…" he forced himself to turn back to her, to look, if she wouldn't turn to him, at least at the graceful line of her back. "I was afraid…" he admitted. "Afraid to see that look in your eyes again."

She turned slowly to look at him and he fought his first instinct to look away, managing to meet her eyes. "Everything…it all became so hard to suppress…to keep from giving anything anyway…especially the day of your birthday…" His hands clenched into tight fists, the plastic of the clip biting into his hands, "When I thought of Slade taking you away…" he grimaced as his knuckled turned white. "I would've happily done things to him…" he winced and seemed to be remembering the darker parts of himself, "…things to him that I had only seen in my worst nightmares…" he shook his head. "I never wanted to _kill_ someone so much in my life…to obliterate him…_end _him…I never had so much hate inside me..."

There was a barely audible _'crack'_ and his hand opened to look down at the clip as if he had forgotten he held it. His hand shifted and sighing, he crouched down to put it gently back on the ground. He looked at it standing there, almost as if he were trying to figure out its secrets, but he wasn't really _seeing_ it. "So much hate..." he whispered, shaking his head and standing. "At the same time that I wanted to _protect_. Never." Her eyes were confused, conflicted. "But I knew that I couldn't tell you anything…I couldn't even show you a bit of that, or you'd never trust me again…"

She seemed on the brink of speech, about to tell him something, but he didn't know that he wanted to hear what it was and so he barreled on.

"I realized you brought out all of me…the dark-the bad, the jealousy and the hate and the need and that scared me…" he looked tired. "But you also brought out the good in me, too… I wanted to be better for you, I wanted to deserve you, I wanted to make you smile, bring you joy…" he sighed. "I wanted to protect you, but I would kill for you…" he seemed like he was loosing track of his thoughts, "And I was afraid that you'd shun me, you'd hide yourself away…if you even suspected…I couldn't let you suspect…so I hid it all…I pushed it all into the deep dark places where I put things I don't want to see and I tried never to let you know that I did notice you, I tried not to let you know how much it hurt me every time _you_ didn't seem to see _me_." He shook his head. "But if I acted like I didn't see you it was because I was only too aware of you. If I acted like I ignored you it was only because I was aware of each of your breaths."

"You don't…" she started to stop him, fighting within herself to keep control of whatever emotions were left. "…have…"

He shook his head and continued. "The other day, in here," he looked around, as if he could see the shadows of the passed few days, "it just seemed to bring it all together…I was having fun with you…we were so natural together, so easy, but at the same time, I was so aware of you…am…" He shook his head. "I couldn't deny that I wasn't just interested in you as a person, but that I…that I wanted to be around you…" he brought a hand up to the back of his neck. "And I had found a way…something to share with you…a secret between the two of us…and all those other feelings…they…they came to the surface and I couldn't hide from them anymore. I couldn't call them anything else. They were just there…" He finally met her eyes again. "And I don't want to let them go anymore." He tried to read her. "I didn't want to hide them anymore." He took a step toward her. "And I wanted you to feel the same…" another step closer, "So, yes…I pushed you…yes, _I_ wanted to be the one to make you feel…" He stopped physically advancing when he saw her take a step back, but he couldn't stop the words now…not anymore. "Yes…I was jealous of anyone else who would dare…"

Raven shook her head. "I can't do this…" she started to walk away, to go through the door and not have to face what he had said, not have to decide if she would trust him, believe in him…not yet. Not now.

He was on her again before he had even realized he had moved. He caught up to her just as she was about to cross the threshold. She fought him back momentarily, more out of surprise and denial than any real attempt to fight…he knew…she was better than that…if she wanted out, he probably wouldn't have been able to hold her so easily. He captured her hands and pushed her against the wall of the door through which she had tried to escape. He wouldn't let her leave, not yet, not before he told her. Not now. There was so much more he needed to say, but just a few more words he _had_ to say before he let her go if that was her choice. She looked at him in surprise as her back hit the wall and her hands were immobilized at her sides. Just three...more..."I. Love. You."

Her eyes widened and she started to struggle again, flinching as a few things smashed against the wall behind her as she started to lose herself to her emotions. "Don't," she said, her voice strained with the effort of controlling something inside her. Her heart was beating fast, and the adrenaline was rushing in her ears, but it wasn't enough. And she was so afraid of her powers…so afraid of giving in.

"Don't what?" he asked.

"Don't…" she looked at him and the plea was there, in the depths of her lavender eyes, as if she were drowning. "Don't…" she faltered.

"Don't love you?" he asked. In response, she closed her eyes as if he had hit her. "I can't," he said simply, and he suddenly knew it was true. All of it was true. No matter what else happened, he couldn't stop. "Ask anything of me, Raven…anything and its yours…" he whispered, his voice almost hoarse, almost tearful. She looked at him. "Ask me to leave the Titans," he offered. She opened her eyes wide and opened her mouth, but he hurried to stop her. "Ask me not to fight Slade, ask me to forget about revenge…ask me _anything_, but don't ask me not to love you, Raven," he whispered, leaning in close to her, unable to resist her closeness. "Ask me never to say it again if it repulses you…ask me to go back to pretending…" he spoke almost against her pulse. He could feel the rise and fall of her breathing. "But don't ask me to tear out my heart…I can't…" he pulled back and looked at her, reaching one hand up to tear off his mask and look at her unimpeded. "This is me…" he whispered hoarsely. She looked into his deep, crystal blue eyes and felt like they would drown her with their intensity. He had let go of one of her hands, but it had remained limp at her side. He took it and lifted it between them, pressing the mask into it for the second time. "This is yours," he told her intently. "Ask me never to wear it again, bid of me whatever you want, I'll be whoever you want …" He inhaled and searched out her eyes. "But don't ask the impossible…" he shook his head. "I can't stop loving you…I never could."

He felt it as random objects crashed into the wall around them, some smashing into a million pieces, but he saw nothing but the surrender in her eyes, the release and without further thought, he closed the distance between them, capturing her lips in his, taking in her breath, her very taste as if he were a drowning man gasping for air.

The lights of the training room sparked and exploded in loud pops and hisses, a few more objects made their kamikaze runs against walls, a few hitting his back where he shielded her, but he didn't move away from his soft exploration, didn't even register the pain. And then her body relaxed against his and everything settled, the floating objects which had been ignored falling with a thump onto the ground, once again immobile.

He started to pull away from her, scared suddenly at her surrender, wondering if he had done the unthinkable, if he had pushed her too far, but as his lips left hers, her gasp came in a nearly imperceptible sound in her throat like the sound of release and her free hand searched for him, grabbing at the black ribbon around his neck. Her hand clenched around it, grinding mask against ribbon, and it was all the invitation he needed before he pressed against her again, offering her his mouth and begging that she respond.

When they finally broke apart, the only light around them was the intermittent on and off of the track lighting above them and for moment upon moment as they looked into each other's eyes, the only sound was the pop and fizz of the circuitry and electricity as it tried to decide what had attacked.

"I can't…" she whispered, something like tears in her voice. "I'm sorry…but I can't…"

He pulled away from her to look in her eyes. They spoke of goodbye. He felt true panic for the first time in his life…the kind of panic that freezes the blood in your veins and makes you forget to breathe. "Can't what?" he managed. "Raven! What are you saying?"

"I can't love you…" She looked around them. "Look at this…I can't…"

He wouldn't let her go. Slade, the other Titans, her father, her damn emotions and anyone else who got in the way be damned. He wouldn't. If she didn't love him or even if she really hated him, that was one thing, he could live with that, but he couldn't live with her goodbye…he refused to let her go just because she was afraid.

He brought her eyes back to his. "You don't have to…" he caressed her cheeks with his hands, wiping away the tears, trying to think passed the fear, trying to find the right words. "Just let me love you…" he told her. She opened her mouth to argue, but he pressed a hand softly against her lips, slightly swollen from his kiss. "Don't tell me to stop…" he asked. "We'll rebuild this…" he motioned around them. "We'll fix it…we always do…just…" and now his eyes were pleading. "Don't tell me not to love you…" he saw it in her eyes.

She wanted to love him, but she was afraid. He could work with that. He could show her there wasn't anything to be afraid of. If he had to wait until she meditated every time he did it, he'd tell her he loved her at least once a day. If he had to get her adrenaline up and let her use him as a punching bag to train, he'd kiss her at least as often…if he had to jump off a cliff with her so she could, he'd do everything in his power so she could feel.

"And I don't care…yell at me all you want," he told her. "But let me touch you…" he wiped at her cheek a little more. "Laugh at me if you want, laugh at Beast Boy, at Cyborg's laugh, laugh only for me, laugh with me…it doesn't matter…" he looked sad for a moment, sad and resigned. "Pretend this didn't happen if you must, take away my air, but don't take away your laughter, your scowls, your eyes...don't take it away from me, I couldn't…" he leaned down and rested his forehead on her shoulder, unsure how to continue. He was never any good at this kind of thing. He was clumsy and stupid and he didn't know what to say, except what was the biggest fear in his heart, "Don't go, don't say goodbye," he met her eyes again and pulled her hair away from her face. "Be mad at me if you want, laugh at me if you want, but don't take away _you_ from me, don't take away the chance to see you, to maybe touch you…and just don't…" his voice wavered a little and he inhaled to steady it. "Don't hate me," he said, his tone making it sound like an order. "Don't ever look at me with hate like that again."

He searched her eyes and knew just the moment when she gave in, the split second before she nodded as if she didn't dare her voice to speak.

He found himself suddenly unable to hold his legs under him and he fell onto his knees, still in front of her, the fear escaping in a rush, leaving him only with all the other feelings inside, pushing for attention, and gratitude holding it all together. She wouldn't leave him. She would give him a chance.

He felt her hand tentatively touch his temple, unsure. Slowly, his eyes rose to meet hers and what she saw there gave her confidence and her fingers slowly caressed his temple, as if marveling in the touch of him, surprised that he had yet to turn away. Her fingers traveled into his scalp to feel his hair between them and his head leaned into her hand for a brief moment, her eyes going soft and understanding and he felt as if he had been blessed by a Goddess.

In sheer gratitude he did the only thing he could think of: he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her away from the wall and into his embrace. Wanting to be close to her, he leaned into her, pressing the side of his face to the flat of her stomach, closing his eyes at the echo of her heartbeat that traversed her body, and locked his arms behind her as if he would never let her go. If he was never blessed with any other grace from any god ever again in his life, he could have lived there happily for the rest of his life, knowing she had granted him this embrace, she had let him hold her.

Eventually, she realized that in this game neither of them had planned to lose, both of them somehow managed to win...

And her arms slowly curled around him and returned the embrace, pulling him even closer.

**Notes:**

(1) "Blue Monday" by Orgy.

(2) "Faint" by Linkin Park. (They fought to in the last part.)

**Final A/N: **It's strange. The reason this chapter came up so quickly after the last one is because I had this image of a scene that I thought would fit very nicely as a way to round it all up. But as always, Robin and Raven both surprise the hell out of me and take the story in directions I would not have thought they would. The whole confrontation anger things wasn't even in the cards when I started writing this, but Puck (my muse, remember?) wouldn't let me change it. (hate muses with a mind of their own…Puck sticks his tongue out at her) I went back and thought, "Well, maybe I can add it in here up top?" but Puck still won't let me. Hmmm…seems he's become rather possessive with the way he sees them.

Truth is, I wrote up like three distinct fight scenes, and more than a few versions of the conversations between them and none of them really made me happy. I had to go back and read through it again and again and I think Puck was punishing me because I had started to feel overwhelemed by the mushiness of the whole thing.

Ultimately, although the characters might seem a little OOC, I think this is a pretty good testament to the different aspects of love. They didn't know how to treat each other and so they went stumbling through until finally, they came to some understanding of each other. Hnh…what a way to go!

And gawd…that was a sappy ending, wasn't it:grin stupidly:

Anyway, there's a very short, one-page epilogue that'll be posted along with this, but only in the new TT account, so go there to read it. (Or, if you are there, then…eh…welcome!)

**Special Note:** As I was writing Robin's declaration, when he's asking her not to go, I was reminded of a poem by Pablo Neruda (one of my favorite poets). So, I have a slight nod to him and in case you don't know the poet, it's where Robin asks her not to take her laughter. The poem, "Your Laughter". It's beautiful and I think it fit perfectly to what Robin was trying to tell her, so I just couldn't help but put it in there. I do want to mention that that whole conversation wasn't inspired by the poem. In other words, I didn't read the poem and go, "Oh, I should have him saying something like this!". No, Robin just said what he said and halfway through it, I realized it sounded like Neruda's poem, so, yeah…just added that line and it's not even a direct quote. But you should go and read his poem. It's originally in Spanish, but he's got the translations out there.

**Special Note 2:** Okay, so I mentioned above the pieces that I had written that I didn't add? One of them was a short scene as to how the others got out of the Tower and other little random bits and pieces that I either changed or though I didn't need, but they were concise little snippets of scenes, so I felt really bad about just deleting them, so I saved them and kinda titled it my "deleted scenes". I was wondering if I should take up a page out of Jasper Fforde's play book and post them up somewhere so you guys can access them and see what was and wasn't shown but only insinuated and what might have been? I don't know where I'd post it, except maybe my scraps section on dA…but anyway, if you guys'd be interested in seeing that, then let me know when you review!

**Thanks:** Didn't get as many as last time. What happened? Did I lose ya? Big hug and loads of cookies to those of ya who did. Anyway, here's the personal responses.

**Maiathestrange:** Eheh…thanks! I would love to know what else you have to say, though, but thanks a bunch for the inspiration! Hope you like this one! And remember, I'm switching accounts on ffn so if you want to find the epilogue, you'll have to go to the new one…it's up in one of my A/Ns…somewhere…

**AzngrlOT:** :throws chapter at her: BREATHE:sweatdrop: Please don't do that to me! I'm studying for finals and graduating and I've got enough stress without thinking you might turn all sorts of colors on me and pass out:grin: But I'm glad you liked it! And I hope you like this one, too!

**Cherry Jade:** Yes! I know exactly how you feel about BB/Rae. I feel the same way. And I haven't been reading/writing TT fanfic for long, but I swear it gets on my nerves. Nothing against the green dude, but…yeah…k…I'll stop. Thanks for reviewing! So glad you liked it. Hope you still like it now that it's a…three shot:thinks: Is that even a category? Ah, call it a small mini-series? A short story? Eh, whatever. 'member to check out the new account for the Epilogue!

**Broken Outcast:** :falls over dead from laughing: Oh…wow…your review just made me laugh so hard, I found it hard to focus on studying. I've only ever had one other person ever cheer me with pompoms…so you caught me seriously off-guard! I'm glad you liked it. And it's cause of reviewers like you that the story ever evolved from a One-Shot, so…yeah! Check out my new acct for the epilogue…eh…in a few days…when I post it up there…

**Gothic Kid 13:** I don't think there's any song of Evanescence's that's bad. My Immortal is very good as well so is Taking Over Me. Those are the ones that I've been listening of theirs lately, but that's only because I went on such a "Whisper", "Going Under", "Bring Me To Life" fix when I first got their CD. Eheh…anyway…thanks for the review, glad you enjoyed it and I hope you like this one, too!

**KitsuneAkurei:** Yah…I felt a little like I kept repeating things too. If you happen to find the specific instances that made it feel that way for you, please let me know so I can go back and try to fix it? Thanks for the constructive criticism! And thanks for reviewing!

**Jurodan:** DUDE! You always manage to point out _exactly_ what made me feel a little 'eh' about what I post! It's uncanny, I tell ya! And as for the songs, I always feel like I'm disjointing the songs, and either going too fast or too slow in my action when I use lyrics to intersperse them like that. I have yet to find a way to make that work to the point where I'm satisfied. Except like when they're actually singing, which I tend to keep away from mostly. I _hate_ writing combat. And yet, turns out to be almost all that this story was about, huh? Go figure. I really hate it though. I figure I can see it in my mind's eye but I always feel like maybe I'm describing too much or not describing enough…blech. And…_Kama Sutra_! Jajajajaja….that tripped me out. I always like to investigate new angels to things. The only time I try my hand at a plot device already used is when I think I can do something like this with it, or when I just want to see if I can, like the dreaded "Blanket Scenario" fics or "Mary Jane" stories. I haven't really posted any of those, but I will some day…just to see if I can:grin:

I don't usually update so quickly or crank out the chapters so quickly either, but it seems that my muse had these scenes and wanted to get them out. They're almost independent little snippets too, so I don't have to worry too much about taking them from one scene to the next which is what takes me a long time to figure out in other fics. Anyway, the speed of these updates and the length…that's just been a fluke, I think.

Anyway, thanks for the GREAT recommendation! You're a peach!

The paper's _mostly_ done (feels like Miracle Max: "…_mostly_ dead.") but I paused it to study for finals (the first of which was today…or, today as I respond to these reviews, being…eh…Thursday.) Not due until the 10th, so I'm hoping to get back to working on it after my second final tomorrow and finish it up before my last final on the 10th…while somehow managing to study for said last final. :sweatdrop: Thanks for remembering!

**Firehottie:** Thanks so much! I hope this part doesn't disappoint!

**Dragon Huntress:** :blush: I don't think I've ever rocked anyone's socks before. :P I'm glad you liked it and I'm glad you liked the music. I was worried it might've been too much. I hope you like this one, too! Remember to go to the new account to check out the epilogue!


	4. Of Epilogues and Accounts

May 1, 2005

This story has now officially been transferred to the new TT account. You can find that account at:

www. fanfiction . net / (squiggly line) emaniahilel

Please go there to find the Epilogue which has been posted.

This note is being posted to inform the people who have me on author alert and have this story on favorites or something because I will be removing the story from here in one week's time (on May 9th, 2005).

Thank you to everyone who read and enjoyed the story and who reviewed! Please continue to do so!

Hugs and Chocolate,

_Em_


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